Employees blame municipal officials for eviction
Four municipal employees were evicted from their homes.
KINROSS – The Govan Mbeki Municipality has evicted four municipal workers from their homes to sell the houses and invest the money in service delivery.
The employees were upset about the situation on Thursday, 16 January.
“When I got home last Tuesday evening, I could not even get into my driveway, because it was blocked by tree branches that workers had cut,” said a municipal employee.
According to him, they were told last year that the municipality wants to sell the houses and they were given the option of buying them.
“I wanted to buy the house and made arrangements, but then they just sold it to someone else without informing me,” he said.
Mr Henry Masango, head of marketing and communication, said: “The council decided to sell the houses and invest the money in service delivery.
“We gave our employees an option to buy the houses, but unfortunately some of them did not qualify for bonds.
“They were always given three months to get alternative places to stay.”
A few employees who were in the same boat, apparently had a meeting with the executive mayor, Ms Lindi Masina, last year regarding this issue and Ms Masina allegedly said they would get a chance to either get bonds or get another place to stay in.
However this employee was told he had to be out of the house by the end of last week though the municipality still deducted rent for January.
“We never got an eviction notice and I do not know where I am going to stay now,” said the employee.
Mr Masango said: “The eviction was legal and we followed all court procedures in dealing with the matter, therefore they cannot blame individual people because it was a Council resolution.
