WATCH: Disabled residents refuse to move from family units in Clayville

People with disabilities picketed in front of RDP family units in Clayville Extension 45 to prevent being evicted on December 11.

Disability Forum leader Minah Funani said members of the disabled community forcefully took over the units on December 5.

“We have slept here since then and we occupied the empty units by force.

“I have been in more than five meetings with the people from human settlement and told them about the challenges families of the disabled people face.

“Whenever the department of human settlement allocates houses to people, we are never considered.

“They requested data on the disabled community and I sent it to Alberton and Johannesburg offices but nothing came of it,” said Funani.

She said an insensitive municipality worker – Thulane Mashaba – arrogantly told the disabled community they will never get any of the houses.

“Human settlement senior office bearers said it is none of their business that we are disabled but we are going to fight until we get those houses.”

The Disability Forum was advised to resend data but they are not going to go through that process again. On Saturday, the Disability Forum allocated the family units to its members and on Decemeber 11, Mashaba sent the Red Ants to attack the disabled occupants and to forcefully remove them from the houses.

“The Red Ants came in four trucks and they had steel bars which they wanted to use to attack these disabled people. They waited for a while and I don’t know what stopped them from attacking. We have been in these houses for more than seven days and we are not going to be moved out for some paper work,” said a member of the Disability Forum.

He said the human settlement department was given an ample time to respond to the needs of the disabled community but they failed.

“They don’t respect us because we are living with disabilities. They only responded to us on Sunday when they heard that we forcefully opened all the units and gave them to our members on Saturday. Today I am surprised that they brought Red Ants to attack disabled people,” said the blind leader, Minah Funani.

She said the Tembisa housing department must close down because it is corrupt.

“I have evidence and I can stand in court and testify about that corruption,” she said.