The News was invited to take a tour of one of Sivewright Street’s houses of horror, allegedly owned by a Krugersdorp resident.
Arriving at the badly neglected house, easy access was gained through a side gate and broken glass door on the side of the house. This once beautiful house with wooden floors and pressed ceilings is now decorated with condoms in almost every room, which reeked with the smell of dirty sex workers who rent the rooms from a Nigerian national.
Now holes in the floors, broken windows and filth is all that’s left.
Police try to help rid the streets from the drug dealers and sex workers, but they are failing because it is hard to cross reference the 57 passport names on a list of outstanding warrants for arrest with dealers and sex workers who use false names when they are questioned.
Not only is the owner renting out this once beautiful property to a Nigerian national, but is also allegedly aware that he is renting out all the rooms, including the kitchen (or what is left of it) to sex workers who pay between R50 and R100 per night. The owner allegedly personally collects the rent money at the property.
Furthermore it has been established that even though the power supply has been cut off by the municipality ages ago, there is currently an illegal connection of electricity from the back feeding the house.
The ‘basement’ of the house, like many of these old houses, has been broken open and is also rented out as a room for extra income, with desperate individuals living in the stuffy dark space which does not have a window or door.
The back rooms are also being occupied, bringing the total number of occupants to a staggering 11 people; only on the one side of the house.
“Look what the landlords of these badly neglected properties are doing to our community by renting them out to these kind of tenants who partake in illegal activities. This is the landlord’s responsibility,” comments Colonel Luke Enslin from the Krugersdorp Police after the special clean-up operation on 21 May in Sivewright Street, the drug and prostitution capital of Krugersdorp.
A total of eight sex workers who admitted to doing drugs and prostitution were taken into police custody on the day for questioning.
Click here to see the gallery of the house of horror along with the video of angry sex workers taking a ride at the back of a police van to the station.
Want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us an SMS/ WhatsApp message with your name and cellphone number to 079 435 3799.
Familiarise yourself with our WhatsApp service disclaimer.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at krugersdorpnews@caxton.co.za or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites Randfontein Herald, Roodepoort Record and Get It Joburg West Magazine
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
