Alex residents evict ‘illegal’ RDP owners
Police called to restore calm
A group of residents in Alexandra, Johannesburg, who illegally evicted “foreigners” from RDP houses have claimed they did the right thing.
Yesterday, police were called to the township to diffuse tensions after the group evicted people from RDP houses, accusing them of being foreigners who got the houses unlawfully.
One of the residents who carried out the evictions, Liefie Madigane, said they had a list that showed which houses were occupied by foreigners. Madigane told Sowetan they have verified that the houses are occupied by foreigners. The list contained the actual address of the property, name of the person found inside and their ID number.
“This one said to us the owner of the house is someone called Scotch. He does not know him and simply pays rent to somebody in Tembisa… “There is somebody inside who is corrupt. How do you capture somebody’s documents from Mozambique and you allocate them a house,” said Madigane, pointing at one of the names in the list. Madigane said there were over 60 RDP houses that have been identified as being occupied illegally by foreigners. Victims of the evictions and those who were carrying them out met at the entrance of the township next to the Marlboro Gautrain station.
One of the people who was evicted, Dudu Mthethwa, said the group arrived at 6.30pm on Friday.
“I was with my children and a tenant at the house. They broke the gate and knocked at the door. They said they have a list of people who must be evicted. I told them I can’t open because they are a crowd. They said one person will come in,” said Mthethwa. “They said ‘get out you are a foreigner’. They kicked the door and came inside and took all my furniture and threw it outside,” she said. Mthethwa spent Friday and Saturday night at a friend’s house as she was scared to return. Her house remains empty.
Mthethwa, who hails from Barberton in Mpumalanga, said she was targeted because she is married to a Mozambican man.
Gauteng department of human settlements spokesperson Tahir Sema said it had received information about the illegal occupation of the houses and was investigating the matter. “The investigation is already at an advanced stage… We will be working with all the law enforcement agencies to make sure to bring calm in the area and dig deep into the concerns that community members have raised.”