Mrs Selina Naidoo, the matriarch of the family of 21 people, which includes her six children and their families, are living in tents in the veld opposite the smallholding since Tuesday.

The municipality, who is frantically searching for alternative accommodation for the homeless family, supplied three tents as shelter for the family.

Pienaar Dam owner, Mr Gerrie Gerrits, also supplied a tent after he learnt of the family’s predicament.

According to Mrs Naidoo, the family woke around 04:00 on Tuesday morning from a commotion outside.

Seconds after, there was a knock at her door, and the family were greeted by a group of security guards, and a representative from the Sheriff of the High Court, Ms Elize Swarts’, offices.

The Sheriff’s representative, Mr Tinus Snyman, produced an eviction notice and told the family to vacate the premises.

“The next moment my house was swarming with security officers who immediately started moving my belongings onto trucks, they then unloaded my family’s property next to the gravel road, in the veld, 20 metres from where I raised my children in our family home,” a devastated Mrs Naidoo told the Middelburg Observer on Thursday.

After the house and surrounding structures had been evacuated, a bulldozer was sent in to demolish the structures.

“The injustice we have suffered is inhumane, we have nowhere to go, and my grandchildren have no roof over their heads, not even a proper meal to eat,” Mrs Naidoo cried.

The eviction comes on the back of a lengthy court battle which has been dragging on for a number of years.

According to Sheriff Swarts, a final eviction order was obtained by the smallholding owner, FTS Investments, who bought the smallholding from the former owner who acquired the property from an auction through Ms Swarts’ offices in October 2014.

A lengthy legal battle between the Naidoo’s and FTS Investments ensued, and the case was postponed to 31 August 2015, in order for the Naidoo’s to submit arguments of appeal against the eviction process.

They however failed to file arguments on deadline, and FTS Investments petitioned the High Court for a final eviction order, with which both the Naidoo’s and the municipality was legally served on 28 January.

“The judge in this matter would not have issued an eviction order if he wasn’t genuinely convinced the process of obtaining the order, had been done correctly, including the Naidoo’s constitutional right to oppose the application for eviction,” Ms Swarts told the Observer.

A cost order had also been granted against Ms Naidoo, resulting in most of her belongings being seized for future auction, to cover the legal fees.

The municipality is erroneously claiming that they were not informed about the legal battle far ahead of Tuesday’s eviction.

The authority now finds itself between a rock and a hard place in regards to its legal obligations towards the Naidoo’s.