Red Ants leave families homeless
Several families in Angelo informal settlement have been left homeless after their shacks were demolished by the Red Ants on Wednesday, June 22.
About 10 shacks, which had been there since early last year, were razed and the building material taken away.
Residents did not resist the eviction and no clashes were reported between the Red Ants and the evictees.
Residents claim that they relocated to the area early last year, after authorities asked them to move their shacks away from a nearby mineshaft.
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One of the community leaders, Thomas Sibuyi told this publication that because of the dangerous mineshaft the affected families resorted to occupying the piece of land because they were not given alternative place to relocate to.
“People are desperate. If the municipality fails to give them alternative places to live, where must they go?” asked Sibuyi.
“They were not even given a notice of eviction. Where are they supposed to go if they are evicted in such a manner? I wonder if this eviction is legal as people were not even shown any eviction order,” added Sibuyi.
Meanwhile one of the evictees managed to get two of his 10 confiscated corrugated iron sheets back, after he allegedly paid R100 to members of the Red Ants.
The man claims that Red Ants members asked him to pay R100 if he wanted his building material back, and he complied.
When asked as to why they did not give him all his material, Albert said, the members had to stop the process of offloading the material when they noticed some of their superiors approaching the truck.
The Red Ants members also prevented this journalist from taking pictures of the confiscated building material, threatening to break the camera into pieces with their knobkerries.
The Red Ants’ Don Don Brig promised to investigate the sale of confiscated goods and the reports of misconduct by his employees.
