Dozens of angry Alexandra residents recently converged on Collen Radebe’s newly built double-storey house on 4th Avenue to stop the pending demolition of the structure by Metro police.
Radebe, who started building his house last year, said he received a call from a neighbour who told him that there was a huge contingent of Metro police and demolishing equipment at his home.
“I quickly rushed home and on my arrival, I spoke to the Metro police who told me they were instructed by the local councillor Ambie Maseko to come and demolish my house.”
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“The problem was that they didn’t even have a court order and when I called the ward councillor, she told me that she has nothing to do with that and dropped the [call],” he claimed.
Radebe also questioned the motive behind the order to demolish his house because there were three other houses recently built next to his.
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“If the reason for demolishing is because we built without approval from the City of Johannesburg, why was only my house targeted? We have a number of newly built houses next to mine, why are they not on the list?
“I’ve been using this space for more than 20 years selling sweets, airtime and many other things. Now, because I’ve decided to get rid of my shack and build a proper structure someone suddenly has a problem, this is not on.”
Ward 107 councillor Maseko, said she had nothing to do with the order to demolish Radebe’s house and the police were not acting on her instructions.
“The police were doing their job and they don’t get any instructions from me. What I know is that the City has a court order to demolish all illegal structures in Alexandra.
“Collen must stop involving me in his matters because when he started building he never consulted me.”
In the end, Metro police did not demolish Radebe’s house because they did not have a court order as proof that their intended action was legitimate.
Metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar recently told Alex News that on 21 January the City had received a court order to demolish all illegal structures in and around Alexandra.
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