Municipality remains silent about Lakeside – Bhekuzulu 6B dispute

THE MUNICIPALITY still remains silent about the Lakeside- Bhekuzulu 6B dispute which has continued for more than seven years.
The Vryheid Herald spoke to the homeowners, who received title deeds to these houses in September 2009.
According to Lindiwe Mlambo and Hazel Letlatsa, the municipality gave them title deeds, but when they arrived at Lakeside, they found that the houses were already occupied.
This puzzled them, as the municipality had told them that they should go to the municipal offices to obtain the keys to their houses. The residents already occupying the houses may have forcefully gained access, as they had no keys.
When these homeowners arrived to move in, they were met by a very angry mob carrying weapons. The group, which is known as “Isxaxa”, claimed that they had rights to be in these houses and would not leave.
Lindiwe and Hazel then went to the municipality to report the matter and were given letters, which they were to give these people who had forced their way into their homes.
The letters were notices to these people on how much time they had to find another place to stay before legal action would be taken.

“These people still took no notice and so we took the matter to the court,” said Lindiwe.

The matter was in and out of court until April this year when the magistrate fined all those who had “forcefully” moved into the houses in Lakeside.
The magistrate concluded that this was all that they, as the court, could rule as they had no right to evacuate these people and this was a municipal issue.

“The terrible part is that all the water and electricity statements are sent to us every month even though we don’t live in these houses,” complained Hazel.

“I am currently owing R18 000 according to a statement I received last month,” added Lindiwe.

These community members say that they are tired of renting rooms when they have homes that are allocated in their names. 
They are tired of being expected to pay the rates for these houses that they do not live in and although they went back to the municipality to ask for assistance, they were told to wait until after the elections as many members of the municipality were busy with their campaigning.