Squatters complain about evictions
MIDRAND - Two men who claimed that they used to live on the vacant land on New Road, between Lever and 7th roads, alleged that Metro police burnt down plastic informal structures, leaving them without a place to stay.
They said 45 informal structures were burnt.
Speaking anonymously, they said Midrand Reporter had written about their shacks being burnt in the past but nothing is ever done, and they claimed that the municipality does not help them.
Metro police spokesperson Wayne Minaar explained, “The illegal plastic structures were demolished by Metro police and caught fire from the braziers made by vagrants. Police did not set them alight.”
Ward 112 councillor Candice James said, “It is a sad situation that vagrants have to be removed but land owners must be held accountable for the condition their property is in.”
She stated that many businesses in Midrand are to blame for the problem of vagrants as they hold the vagrants at “ransom” with low wages. “Residents who have invested in properties near land taken over by vagrants are affected in that their property prices are radically negatively impacted,” said James.
