Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Attempted murder case over Kraaifontein
A CASE of attempted murder has been opened against private security company Vetus Schola Security Services following an eviction in Kraaifontein last weekend.
The company was hired by property developers AFHCO Calgro M3 Consortium Limited, who own several blocks of flats along La Boheme and Melody Streets in Scottsdene.
Frustrated backyard dwellers from the area occupied the vacant flats last Tuesday following “empty promises” for housing. They allege the flats had been vacant for four years because the rent was high.
“These people have been on the housing waiting lists for a long time. They were promised a housing development on this land but it was sold to the private developers and now flats which cost thousands a month are up for rent.
“The people here cannot afford that, they were promised low-cost housing and that is what they should get,” said the group’s spokesperson, Dennis Taaibosch.
He said the residents of Scottsdene were not opposed to paying for their houses but they could not afford the asking price of the Sunset Village apartments.
“These people want people with a joint income of R17 000. The majority of these people do not work and survive on social grants. Those who do work do not make that much money.
“Now these flats are filled with foreigners and people from other areas; what about the people here?” he asked.
About 120 families spent the Easter weekend in makeshift tents on the sidewalk on Melody Street next to the flats.
The eviction left more than 500 people homeless, including children and babies as young as 5 months.
Some men and women were left injured while 39-year-old mother of four Minnie Africa suffered a panic attack. Africa is unemployed and previously lived with three of her children and her husband on a farm while her eldest son stayed with her father, also in Scottsdene.
“We went to live on the farm because there was a place there for us, but there is no water or sanitation. It is unhygienic and was becoming unbearable for us and the children,” she said.
Africa had been standing at the kitchen sink preparing something to drink for her children when heavily-armed men kicked down the unit door.
“They came and one of them pointed a gun at me and said he was giving me 10 minutes to leave the flat. I was in such shock I did not know what to do. When I got out the whole community was outside and the security had formed a line at the gate to keep people out. Then with no provocation they started shooting at us and that is when I started screaming for help. I fell to the ground and started shouting for my sister.
“My leg would not move, it was just shaking. The doctor said it was from the shock,” she said.
Africa has since had to rely on community members and a crutch to assist her to walk.
Meanwhile, Yolanda Lucas, 36, a mother of three, said she could not go back to where she lived previously as the wendy house had already been occupied by someone else.
“I have nowhere to go, this is it for me. I know we should not just take what is not ours, but what are we supposed to do when we keep getting empty promises and no house for our children? We went there because we need houses, we have been on the waiting list for many years,”she said.
Now Solly Gordon, 54, who received eight stitches to his forehead after he was shot with a rubber bullet while trying to protect one of the women being evicted, has laid a charge of attempted murder with the Kraaifontein police.
“I was not part of the people who were living here but I came to support them. The security guy must have been about five metres away from me when he shot me in the head with a rubber bullet and shot that lady in the breast.”
Attempts by Weekend Argus to contact Vetus Schola Protection Services for comment were unsuccessful.