After watching 18 of her neighbours being evicted from their Masiphumelele homes, Penelope Ngcobo fears her family will be next.
The board of the Amakhaya Ngoku Housing Association was granted an eviction order by the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court last month allowing it to evict 21 tenants who had not paid rent since moving in during 2009.
On Monday, the sheriff of the court began carrying out the eviction order.
Ngcobo, 25, said the group used to live in shacks on the same piece of land before the flats were built by the association in consultation with the residents.
She said the agreement was they would pay R400 a month in rent for four years before owning the flats, but some residents were not able to afford that.
Ngcobo lives with her husband and three sons and said they were scared as they had not paid their rent for several months.
But Jeremy Wiley, secretary of the housing association’s board, said only the 21 tenant families were being evicted.
He said only 18 of these families were evicted on Monday as the other three were contesting the eviction and were awaiting confirmation of a court date.
He said people who were on the waiting list would be moved into the vacant properties.
Wiley said the evicted residents had not paid rent since moving in and each owed close to R8 400.
Nolubabalo Dlulane, 42, was among the residents evicted on Monday.
She said she hadn’t paid her rent because she had been unable to work since having a stroke a few years ago.
Dlulane said she had nowhere else to go with her two children as she had lived in a shack on the property for many years before the flats were built.
Wiley, however, said they had asked residents who were unable to pay the rent to apply for rental relief.
“Those who are not working could apply for a reduction of as much as R300 by doing work on the property in lieu of rent,” he said.
Dlulane said she had applied for rent relief on three occasions, but without success.
Some residents said they had been living on the land since 1997 and would prefer that the flats were demolished so they could go back to living in shacks.
“(The evicted) have nowhere to go. Today we are saying it is better if they evict us all,” said resident Francis Futshane.
Boniswa Mbelwa, another resident, said the association had gone back on its word.
She said that when the building project was initiated they were told the money to build the properties would come from donors and subsidies from the provincial government.
She said she had been working for the housing association when the project started.
“We thought that after we paid rent, we were done,” she said.
“But now we are told that we have to pay R7 200 after a four-year period and another R4 500 in legal costs before we can own the houses.”
Wiley confirmed that residents would have to pay the legal and transfer costs before they could own the properties, but said this had always been part of the agreement.
Mbelwa said it would have been better if the association had gone to each of the 21 evictees to find out their financial situation before taking steps to evict them.
She said the residents had called a meeting last night to discuss their next step.
- Cape Argus
The board of the Amakhaya Ngoku Housing Association was granted an eviction order by the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court last month allowing it to evict 21 tenants who had not paid rent since moving in during 2009.
On Monday, the sheriff of the court began carrying out the eviction order.
Ngcobo, 25, said the group used to live in shacks on the same piece of land before the flats were built by the association in consultation with the residents.
She said the agreement was they would pay R400 a month in rent for four years before owning the flats, but some residents were not able to afford that.
Ngcobo lives with her husband and three sons and said they were scared as they had not paid their rent for several months.
But Jeremy Wiley, secretary of the housing association’s board, said only the 21 tenant families were being evicted.
He said only 18 of these families were evicted on Monday as the other three were contesting the eviction and were awaiting confirmation of a court date.
He said people who were on the waiting list would be moved into the vacant properties.
Wiley said the evicted residents had not paid rent since moving in and each owed close to R8 400.
Nolubabalo Dlulane, 42, was among the residents evicted on Monday.
She said she hadn’t paid her rent because she had been unable to work since having a stroke a few years ago.
Dlulane said she had nowhere else to go with her two children as she had lived in a shack on the property for many years before the flats were built.
Wiley, however, said they had asked residents who were unable to pay the rent to apply for rental relief.
“Those who are not working could apply for a reduction of as much as R300 by doing work on the property in lieu of rent,” he said.
Dlulane said she had applied for rent relief on three occasions, but without success.
Some residents said they had been living on the land since 1997 and would prefer that the flats were demolished so they could go back to living in shacks.
“(The evicted) have nowhere to go. Today we are saying it is better if they evict us all,” said resident Francis Futshane.
Boniswa Mbelwa, another resident, said the association had gone back on its word.
She said that when the building project was initiated they were told the money to build the properties would come from donors and subsidies from the provincial government.
She said she had been working for the housing association when the project started.
“We thought that after we paid rent, we were done,” she said.
“But now we are told that we have to pay R7 200 after a four-year period and another R4 500 in legal costs before we can own the houses.”
Wiley confirmed that residents would have to pay the legal and transfer costs before they could own the properties, but said this had always been part of the agreement.
Mbelwa said it would have been better if the association had gone to each of the 21 evictees to find out their financial situation before taking steps to evict them.
She said the residents had called a meeting last night to discuss their next step.
- Cape Argus
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