Nowhere to go

Homeless, stranded and with nowhere to go… Roxy Court tenants in Germiston were evicted from their home by the sheriff of the court on Friday morning.

The intersection of Meyer and Voortrekker streets was closed off by the Germiston SAPS, as the streets were occupied by tenants moving their belongings from the building and onto the pavement.

“We have nowhere to go, our belongings are all over the street,” said Blessing Cebisa, one of the Roxy Court tenants.

“Our lawyer fought the court order, but now they are saying he needs to come with an interdict to stop the eviction.”

Some of the tenants said they would be forced to go back to the informal settlements until they find another place to stay.

According to Quinton Khumalo, the attorney responsible for obtaining the court order to evict the Roxy Court tenants, the matter of eviction started in 2011.

“We’ve been going back and forth to the courts,” he said.

“The tenants were notified in November, last year, that they would be evicted today.”

Apparently someone has been finding people to live in the building and taking money from them illegally.

“As far as I understand, there is an investigation underway to find that person,” said Khumalo.

“For now, there is nothing stopping the tenants from being evicted by the sheriff.

“What the tenants should have done is to obtain a court order to stop the eviction, but they didn’t.”

Khumalo said the tenants’ attorney has been attending to this matter, but, instead of applying for an urgent cancellation of the court order of eviction, he applied for a normal one.

“The application was too late and it will only be attended to in March,” said Khumalo.

“By then it will be too late, as they are already being evicted today.

“They must find alternative accommodation.”