Victims of illegal evictions are still homeless

In May last year residents of KwaThema Extension five were evicted by the Red Ants.

Their eviction followed after they were given letters of eviction from the department of human settlements in Benoni stating that the home owners would be evicted as they occupied the residences illegally.

The residents’ eviction came as a shock to the community who received letters that said that the houses were ready for them to occupy.

On Wednesday victims of eviction who some of them still have no place that they call their homes filled the KwaThema Magistrate Court to hear the magistrate’s ruling on the matter.

In an affidavit read in court, Nkomotse admitted to be guilty of illegally evicting residents as he confessed that he did not follow the correct procedures of evicting people.

Giving his judgement, magistrate Jaco Du Plessis said he first considered the seriousness of the matter and the interests of the people involved.

He said he hopes that his judgement will be a lesson to others who break the law. “You are the director in your department and the metro trusted you to lead the department and make the right decisions,” said Du Plessis.

Nkomotse was given a R10 000 fine that he had to pay no later than last Wednesday and that should he fail to pay the amount he was going to jail.

Du Plessis also gave Nkomotse an additional R20 000 fine. Leaving the court, some of the residents did not seem to have been happy about the sentence while others said the magistrate gave Nkomotse the right sentence, however when approached by the African Reporter none of the residents was willing to comment about the matter.

Speaking on behalf of the metro, Lebogang Ramashala confirmed that Nkomotse was never suspended by the metro.

It is still not clear if the residents will go back to their houses or not as the metro commented that the court did not make an order about those who were evicted.