Body of man found as flats occupiers flee from Red Ants in Fleurhof

The body of a man found near a block of flats during evictions by the Red Ants in Fleurhof in Johannesburg on Wednesday is yet to be identified.

The circumstances around his death are not yet clear and police are still responding.

Scores of people had illegally invaded government flats before the eviction.

According to an eyewitness, groups of occupiers were fleeing when they made the discovery.

The witness, who did not want to be identified, said he had seen the man lying on the ground.

“I stopped next [to] him. I then asked people to call an ambulance as I thought that he was still alive. He was still breathing and there was blood coming out of his nose and ears. I checked his pulse and he was alive.

“I thought he fell and injured himself as we were running away from rubber bullets that were being fired,” said the man.

Lewis Brown, 61, complained that they lost most of their belongings.

“I have been occupying a place here for two months now. I am homeless and have registered for an RDP house in 2008. I am waiting for a house and am losing hope that the government will give me one. We have lost many things, including our personal documents that were taken by Red Ants,” said Brown.

Also read: GALLERY: Chaos at Red Ants eviction in Fleurhof

Fleeing

Brown claimed the deceased was among those fleeing the rubber bullets, but did not know what had killed him.

Lumka Tshijila claimed that she lost her work due to Covid-19 and didn’t have money to pay for rent.

Tshijila said they were never given permission by anyone to occupy the flats.

“We decided to occupy them on our own. These flats have been standing [empty] for long. What is shocking is that flats opposite those that we had occupied were housing foreigners.

Tshijila complained about the struggle to find homes.

Housing mayoral committee member Mlungisi Mabaso said they would not allow lawlessness in the City of Johannesburg.

“You invade, we respond immediately. We are not going to allow anarchy. We are aware that lockdown regulations prohibit us from evicting people. We are not going to evict people, but are going to respond to invasions.

“People who invade during lockdown, we are going to remove them during lockdown. We are not going to be told about regulations because they are the ones who violated those regulations.

“They invaded properties over the weekend and yesterday. If we are going to be told about respecting regulations, they should have respected the regulations first.

“I heard that there is [an] announcement here [that] people have been called to invade flats in Fleurhof.”

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