BETHAL – Not even a natural disaster such as a flood could remove the squatters from the abandoned municipal building next to the N17 highway.
It seems as though everyone has tried, but no one has yet shown authority to remove the squatters who illegally stay at this site.
They do not have any sanitation facilities or electricity and a tap outside the building supplies them with free water.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality and the police have ordered them to leave, but to no avail.
Some residents believe that prostitutes stay in the building.
During a flood last year, rescue workers were dispatched to the scene when the bottom half of the building was filled with water.
The water however subsided and rescue workers and the police ordered the squatters to leave the area, they however ignored them and gave a show to bystanders who gathered along the N17.
“It seemed as though they were building a client base while we were trying to help them,” a rescue worker said at the scene.
The municipality have been asked about plans to demolish this building on numerous occasions, but to no avail.
Mr Henry Masango, head of marketing and communications for the Govan Mbeki Municipality, said: “The municipality will have to investigate and revert back to the newspaper as soon as the information has been gathered.”
