Housing giant denies illegally evicting tenant

SOCIAL housing giant Communicare has dismissed claims that a Rondebosch tenant was unlawfully evicted.

Karabo Makgoane, who lived at the Welverdiend complex, claimed that she was unlawfully evicted by Communicare because the organisation was supposed to give her alternative accommodation.

“I have been living in the Welverdiend flat since 2017. I was retrenched and told the landlord, but he said that under no circumstances would they help me. I was then paying half of my rent until October 2018. I got served a court letter, and my first court appearance was in 2019. I did not have a legal representative.

“On May 2, I was evicted by a magistrate, who said I could leave on November 30 because of my circumstances. I was expecting Communicare to get back to me regarding alternative accommodation, as was requested by the magistrate.

“On November 30 nobody had said anything to me. I stayed because I was expecting Communicare to tell me about alternative accommodation arrangements,” said Makgoane.

Communicare spokesperson Michelle Matthee said the company had tried to accommodate her when she fell into arrears.

“The tenant has considerable arrears, well over R100 000, arising from non-payment of rental. The tenant also did not uphold previous payment agreements. After the court heard the matter, the eviction order was issued on May 21. As is reflected in the court order, Communicare was not instructed to find alternative accommodation for Ms Makgoane.

“The issue with Ms Makgoane began 18 months ago. We eventually had no other option but to hand the issue over to the courts.

After a lengthy court process, on February 18, the sheriff of the court carried out an eviction of Ms Makgoane, as ordered by the court,” said Matthee.