Rubbish house exasperates residents of Thulisa Park

Residents of Thulisa Park are at their wits’ end with the people living in 16 Austin Street, which is called the ‘rubbish house’.

The frustrated residents said the people who live there are littering their suburb, and neighbouring houses can’t bear the smell from the property. One of the residents, who wished to remain anonymous, said since these people started staying at the rubbish house the residents have experienced several break-ins.

“We are living like prisoners in our homes because of these people. They don’t care about us and they steal from us. Even if we try and give them jobs they continue stealing from us. We have gone to collect countless bins from them which they stole from us,” said the resident.

According to the residents there was a nursery opposite the rubbish house but it closed down because the parents’ cars were often hijacked. At the time the COURIER visited, the irate residents said there were blackouts in the area, allegedly because of the residents from the rubbish house.

The residents said these people steal electrical cables and sell it, and with that money they buy drugs. Also, the residents are complaining about prostitution going on in the house.

“There is always loud music and people go in and out as they please. That’s not on. We have children, they can’t be exposed to this kind of living. We tried to talk to them to find another place to live because the way they live downgrades our house’s value in a huge way,” said the resident.

Property

The property in question was abandoned by its owner a few years back and people house themselves there illegally.

The COURIER did a story on the ‘rubbish house’ titled Residents live among stench owing to lack of mobile loos on February 18 as they wanted toilets and bins. Thulisa residents claim the people from rubbish house want bins to steal water from them. Also, if people from the rubbish house get the toilets, the smell of faeces will increase because mobile toilets don’t flush.

“What we want is to see these people gone and if we get a place in an informal settlement, we don’t mind transporting them there,” said a resident.

Councillor Faeeza Chame promised to visit the house to go and inspect what is happening. The actual owner of the house is believed to be overseas and the COURIER tried reaching her via email, but no response was given in time of going to print.

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