Resident told to remove wall
63-year-old pensioner, Ms Florence Thukani, said she is terrified her yard's wall will be demolished by the local councillor and road construction teams in preparation for BRT routes in Tembisa.
Ms Thukani claimed the ward councillor told her she had encroached on council’s land.
“At first I receive a letter of notice on April 9 from the construction team asking the affected communities for their cooperation by ensuring that all safety measures are observed and adhered to. The latter said dangerous, heavy machinery for road construction will be operated in the area. Now I am told I encroached on council’s land. I am hurt because I bought this land,” she said.
Ms Thukani added that what hurts her most is that she had just finished renovating her wall and now she is being told to break it down.
“It is a nightmare. Before I could renovate the wall, we were terrorised by Nyaope addicts who broke into my house. I think peace is something I will never find in Tembisa. We are abused by criminals and now we are harassed by the councillor who told me my wall encroached on council’s land. I have papers that prove the land belongs to me,” she said.
She was advised by the local municipality to find the plans of the yard.
It is believed the road construction team conducted surveys and found that the wall had encroached on council land.
The ward 4 councillor, Clr Lesetja Muhlapamaswi, said he was informed by an official from the municipality that Ms Thukani had encroached on the land.
“We sat down with Ms Thukani about the matter. She said she was unhappy with the surveys made by the road construction team. Now we are waiting for the surveys from the municipality to come back so that we know what is going on,” he said.
The director of the road construction team, Mr Mavela Setunku, confirmed that Ms Thukani’s wall encroached on council’s land.
“We surveyed the area and found that the wall encroached on council land,” he said.
