Ward 93 councillor Annette Deppe, accompanied by Midrand police, Metro police, health inspectors, area representatives and provincial officials, conducted an inspection in the Barbeque Downs area on 27 August.
Deppe said the inspection was merely a warning, but a raid would be conducted by Home Affairs officials and the police to clear up the area.
According to Deppe the vagrants have taken up two vacant properties on the corner of the R55 and Main Road, and have been living there illegally for many months. The vagrants told city council officials and Fourways Review that they were foreign immigrants and many of them were from Lesotho.
Deppe said the properties are privately owned. She alleged one of the owners fled the country, leaving the land vacant and neglected. The other owner was trying to sell his property.
It was discovered that an existing abandoned house on one of the properties was occupied by illegal residents operating a prohibited beer business.
Chairperson of Barbeque Downs Community, Candice James said, “It seems more than 10 people live in this one bedroom house, there isn’t any running water or electricity and this poses a problem for us [the community].”
It was found that some of the occupants use river water to bathe and as a toilet, causing a serious health issue for other residents. Immigrant Khothatso Monaleli, originally from Lesotho, has been living on the property for four months, he had left his home for better opportunities in Johannesburg. “I live here because I am a labourer, I only get paid R100 for a job and the owners don’t provide us housing. I want to move to the township but I cannot afford it.”
Service delivery official Jeanney Portia Makape raised concerns that some vagrants were living below the floodline and that heavy rains could wash them away. She further noted that the vagrants’ shelters, which were made of plastic and grass, could easily catch alight. Trees in the area have also been cut down and are being used for fire wood.
-
-
-
-
