A member of the Midrand Homeless Committee is one of the people who alleges that Metro police illegally evicted them from a piece of private land on 21 January in Church Street.
Toza Sikhundla said, “Metro police have no right to take us from our home. They harassed us and moved us.” The displaced people crossed the street and settled along Market Street and watched as their homes were knocked down and plastic, collected for recycling, discarded.
Asked where they will stay, Sikhundla replied, “We are going to sleep at the ANC offices inside Boulders Mall. They have not come to help us even though we are supporters ofthe ANC.”
However, the Parliamentary Constituency office of the ANC in Halfway House said they would not be allowed in the ANC office. Spokesperson Kaizer Komane said, “They cannot come here and there is nothing we can do for them. Our office helps card-carrying members of the ANC. They may support ANC in their hearts but they do not have identity documents to be admitted as members.”
When asked to comment, Metro police spokesperson Edna Mamonyane said, “Metro police received a request from the owner of the property to demolish new structures that squatters were putting up and clear out his land.”
However, when pressed by Midrand Reporter, Mamonyane steered clear from using the word “eviction”. The advocate representing the squatters, advocate Kgadima Kekana, told the Midrand Reporter that on 21 January he went to court to get an interdict to stop Metro police from evicting squatters, but the matter had been postponed to 23 January. He claims that the police evicted the people illegally. “They need a court order to evict anyone, they don’t have a court order, that is why we are taking them to court.”
Ward 92 councillor Leepile Motsumi confirmed that the owner of the private land also asked him, and the regional director’s office, to move the squatters from his land. Motsumi added, “There is a process that will begin to move the squatters to a piece of land on Dale Road, next to the Midrand Cemetery, as a temporary measure.”
