A man salvages bricks from the ruins. Photo: Leseho Manala
Victims of houses that were demolished between Marlboro Gardens and the Jukskei River on 31 May milled around their ruins three days later with sullen faces of desperation.
This as the saga was tossed around between the City and provincial administrations with Mayor Herman Mashaba, apologising and committing to rebuild the homes. Interest groups also waded in on the matter which is part of Alexandra’s long-standing housing woes which seem without any end in sight.
The #Shut down Alex movement committed to react again. According to the movement, the attention given to the matter was a knee-jerk reaction which they will contest through protest action as it disregarded their quest for a holistic solution of the township’s housing challenge.
Remains of destruction at Silverton informal settlement. Photo: Leseho Manala
Meanwhile, in groups or individually, the victims pondered their fate while salvaging bricks and few retrievable assets from the brick and mortar homes which were razed down by the Red Ants, an infamous demolition and evictions crew, known to leave behind no joy in their tracks. The well-orchestrated destruction is said to have been done by about 500 Red Ants from about 8.30am and ended at midday.
“With an element of surprise and armed with crowbars, hammers and backed by graders, they broke down more than 150 houses without mercy to those who pleaded to retrieve their household items,” said victim Patrick Ngobeni who lost a four-bedroom house worth R98 000.
Children playing among the ruins. Photo: Leseho Manala
“The demolition was methodical and under a commander until the afternoon when two ‘senior Metro officers’ came to the site and instructed the commander to stop the carnage.”
Casual labour was on his site piling bricks as Ngobeni and others pondered their fate. “I didn’t retrieve anything and now sleep in a car.”
Officers from the South African Police Service are said to have protected the demolishers, saying that it was on instruction, Ngobeni added.
A man recovers bricks at the demolition site. Photo: Leseho Manala
Other victims at the site resembling a bombed-out settlement said the Red Ants broke doors with the crowbars and hammers and took whatever they wanted before graders broke the walls and crushed into heaps iron-sheet roofing, rafters, door frames and anything in the way.
Ngobeni could only show the remains of a blue plastic 44-gallon container in the brinks on his site. Nearby, a wardrobe strangely remained unscathed and surrounded by bricks on a bare floor of another victim’s former home.
Initial reports of a child dying in the incident were disproved. The toddler had seemingly been saved by others as the caregiver was confused by the melee.
Men salvage building material at the demolition site. Photo: Leseho Manala
There were claims that double-storey homes were destroyed at a site that was developed from September last year, allegedly without any intervention by authorities. The victims claimed Metro officers drove through the place on patrol occasionally and there was no imminent sign or threats of the demolition. Also, they claimed to refuse was collected normally, water had been installed for them and there were passageways for emergency vehicles to drive through. They disproved claims of shacks having been destroyed, saying such structures were not allowed and said that the demolishers refused to provide proof of a court order for the exercise.
Some of them said they took loans for their houses.
“I am repaying monthly instalments on an R35 000 loan for three years and the latest payment was processed during the demolition,” one of them said.
Victims retrieve what the can from destroyed homes. Photo: Leseho Manala
Another showed an injury on his back which he claimed was from a rubber bullet – presumably fired during the commotion said to have involved the demolishers also throwing bricks at those who resisted.
The carnage, they said, ended with an order from the Metro officials to the commander of the Red Ants who rushed to the site. This seemingly occurred simultaneously with two potential victims refusing to vacate a house and another daring the grader to crush him first before his house.
A man salvages bricks from the ruins. Photo: Leseho Manala
The victims claimed to have lost personal items with some seen being taken by the demolishers. “I retrieved my takkies from the feet of one of them and the police reprimanded some of the demolishers seen carrying a whole cooked chicken and a handbag from one of the homes,” Ngobeni added.
Also, birth certificates, television sets, fans and assortments of household items, some purchased on credit, were lost.
