Govan Mbeki Municipality distances itself from early morning eviction in eMbalenhle
Sipho Dyali, one of the occupants said they wont be intimidated by the municipality because they know that what they are doing is not illegal.
Squatters who were removed from land in the Mandela Section in eMbalenhle, near Greenfield Settlement, have already moved back in and rebuilt their houses.
In the meantime, the Govan Mbeki Municipality Executive Mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, and council speaker Fikile Magagamela, have distanced the municipality from the eviction that took place in the early hours of March 15, during which several shacks were demolished.
Their response follows concerns raised by EFF councillors Daniel Khoza and Wilson Chauke, who accused the municipality of violating human rights after the incident. Khoza and Chauke questioned both the legality and timing of the eviction, calling on the municipality to produce a court order authorising the eviction.
“How can the municipality evict our community at 04:00? That is a human rights violation. Even if community members have illegally occupied land, lawful processes must be followed. A legal eviction would take place during the day, not while people are asleep,” insisted Chauke.
“That is thuggery. Gunshots were fired during the eviction, and the municipality’s law enforcement officers and officials were harassing those community members.
“People were intimidated and their shacks destroyed while they were sleeping inside, which forced them to escape the danger of a front-end loader that was used to destroy their shacks. Why is the municipality doing this, especially in Human Rights month? Is this not a violation of one’s rights?” said Chauke.
In response, Zuma denied any municipal involvement, stating that the municipality respects the law and constitutional human rights.
“As the municipality, we respect the law and the human rights enshrined in our Constitution. We would not carry out an eviction at 04:00. Such processes would take place during the day after exhausting all legal avenues. It is possible that this eviction was carried out by a private landowner,” Zuma said.
Residents who again erected their shacks in the same area, claim that they have moved in onto residential stands that the municipality doesn’t want to give to community members in need of residential stands.
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Sipho Dyali, one of the occupants said they wont be intimidated by the municipality because they know that what they are doing is not illegal but forcing the municipality to correct the wrongs.
“We are not invading a private land but we are occupying residential stands that the municipality doesn’t want to give to us since 2013, even councillors failed to give us answers on why the municipality is keeping residential stands while we don’t have place to sleep.
“All the shacks that are erected, have stand numbers. On the night when those municipal officials came to destroy our shacks, some of us were harassed, I was awaken by a sound of a firearm outside and while I was still shocked, I hear someone was kicking my door, my door open and two municipal officers entered. They forcefully removed me out of my shack and then destroyed it,” said Dyali.
During the council meeting, Zuma also said the Municipality is faced with a 40% water loses and when they investigate, they lose them through informal settlement.
“As the Municipality, we have 45 informal settlements and we have to provide water for those people as per the requirement by our country constitution. People got rights have access to water,” said Zuma.
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