An overdue eviction ordered by the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court in 2021 saw many houses that had been built on the private land next to the cemetery being demolished on Thursday July 11, forcing many South Africans and foreigners to lose their homes.
The land that belongs to the Matsafeni Community Development Trust was allegedly sold illegally to the occupants as stands by unknown fraudsters. According to the court order, the eviction notice was issued to the occupants to vacate the land soon after the state of national disaster had ended in April 2022.
The 2021 court order said the first respondents, whose structures are currently occupied, are ordered to vacate the property and remove the structures erected there by no later than three months after the state of disaster has ended.
The sheriffs were directed to demolish and remove all incomplete and unoccupied structures erected on the property with immediate effect, with the assistance of the SAPS.
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In the event that the first respondents fail to vacate this property within the time given, the sheriff is authorised to evict all individuals from these structures and place them outside the property’s boundaries.
@lowvelder Multiple houses in Mataffin, Mbombela have been demolished since this morning, July 11. The homeowners are said to have occupied the land illegally. > Video: Supplied
A Mataffin resident said they saw buses and police vehicles arriving early in the morning on Thursday, and not long after, they saw the area being barricaded and the houses getting demolished.
On arrival at the area, Mpumalanga News witnessed community members who were watching the scene as some occupants carried their furniture away for safe keeping. Some managed to save some of the building materials from their houses before these were demolished.
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One of the occupants, who did not want to be named, told the paper that she and her family had relocated there from Knysna in 2021. “I bought a piece of the land from an unknown man and I paid him R40 000.
We have been warned multiple times to vacate the land, but we never thought they would come, because they never came after giving us these eviction notices. A lady with the police came here about six weeks ago to issue us with 30 days’ eviction notices, but nothing happened then until now.”
She said she had started building a house for her family on the land with the hope to rebuild her life after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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