Residents near Ext 7, Wesselton forcefully removed after court order

Residents of Chris Hani Informal Settlement near Ext 7 in Wesselton were left in despair after their structures of houses were forcefully removed following a court order for them to vacate the land on Thursday, 31 January.

The residents, who invaded the land after a call from the South African Communist Party (SACP) in late 2018, had to watch as their structures were demolished by TLB’s as police monitored the removals.

The land has been a burning issue, including the one next to it, Ext 7, with numerous land invasions taking place in the past two years.

Some residents have been occupying the space since October 2017 and received a notice to vacate the land on Tuesday, 22 January this year.

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This led to various stand-offs with police as tensions flared up and residents blocked the N11 Hendrina Road at the Thusiville intersection on Thursday evening, 24 January.

Vehicles using the road could not go through as residents burned tyres and surrounded the road with rocks.

The tension culminated with the removals on Thursday, which began on a violent note as police had to use rubber bullets to disperse angry residents before moving into the area.

According to residents, the removals were uncalled for and illegal because they had engaged with various people in power and were awaiting feedback.

“I do not understand why they are demolishing our houses because we were still awaiting feedback so we can move forward, in that we are moving or staying,” said one resident.

His words were echoed by the Nkambule family, who had moved into the area in December and were seen removing their belongings from their shack to prevent them from being destroyed.

Ms Nkambule could be seen shouting at police members while her two small children stood beside her as her husband quickly removed things.

“Where will we go, we have nowhere to go and where will my children sleep,” the mother of six wailed. Nkambule are just one of many families who were removed.

The land in question is privately owned and the owner went via the courts to stop people from erecting houses and structures on his land, hence the removals.

The land next to it, the newly-built Ext 7, belongs to Msukaligwa Municipality.

It was also invaded by community members from Wesselton, prompting the municipality to take the matter to court and they won, preventing anyone from erecting markings or dwellings on the land.

The municipality built low-cost houses (RDP’s) on it, which they said were for military veterans of the liberation struggle and registered community members on housing lists in August 2017.

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