Rosettenville residents block road with burning tyres
Evicted family claims the evictions stinks of corruption and claims the whole thing was led by an Nigerian men who claimed to have bought the house at an auction.
A group of Rosettenville residents blocked High Street with rocks and burning tyres after an elderly woman’s family of six was evicted on Thursday, January 20 and spent a night in the street.
The crowd informed the COURIER that they were angry because too many families have been evicted from houses by syndicates. These syndicates, they alleged, are led by a few foreign national men who use corruption to hide their influence. They further alleged that these foreigners claim to have purchased the houses at auctions and bring letters that were not signed by the magistrate.
“The house used to belong to my employer many years ago. He left it with me after I paid a R50 000 deposit to purchase the house and continued to pay R3 400 to the cousin of the owner, as agreed,” said Melody Nyembezi (62).
The angry crowd claimed that there is a man who has been visiting the property, saying he purchased the home. But they insisted that the house belonged Gavin Woodget, who had hired Melody as a domestic helper back in 1994. When he left, Melody paid R50 000 to live in the house and continued to pay rent of R3 400 to his cousin.
The crowd claimed that house hijackers have illegally accumulated control of numerous houses in the South and have used their connections to get people kicked out.
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However, local ward councillor Michael Crichton said the allegations were untrue.
“Upon hearing about the eviction, I went to the Sheriff’s office and met with Mr van der Merwe, the Sheriff for Johannesburg South. He told me the eviction was legal and carried out by his office. There was an eviction order from the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, accompanied by an attorney’s cover letter. Two notices had been served on the address prior to the eviction taking place.”
There have been numerous illegal evictions in the South. So much so that people are not trusted when it comes to evictions. No piece of paper is enough to convince the community that the eviction is legitimate. In the past, the house hijackers have invited fake Red Ants and brought counterfeit documents to evict people.
This crime has prompted local councillors such as Rashieda Landis, Tyrell Meyers, Sidney Radebe and Faeeza Chame to intervene and speak out against it.
Since then, the culprits have learnt how to imitate the eviction procedures and show up on days that evictions are allowed. In one incident, a toddler was pepper-sprayed during a violent eviction, where a group of foreign men entered a flat in Rosettenville and broke all the windows, toilets and taps, to make the place unlivable.
A private investigator who studied these crimes managed to get hold of video and photographs, showcasing the corruption that has led to people being evicted by the fake officials.
Moffatview SAPS
The Moffatview SAPS deemed the documents legal and therefore assisted on the scene. “The Sheriff came to Moffatview SAPS to request monitoring of eviction for safety at no 52 High Street, Rosettenville. The police were monitoring for peace and the people were evicted. After a day or two they went back to the place. The people were influenced by members of the community.
“On Monday, January 23, the police arrested the people for trespassing, malicious damage to property, contempt of court and intimidation. They appeared in court and were told not go back to the place,” said Constable Rebecca Bila.
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