Amos Maruping is one of the top 10 leaders of the Windsor Community Recovery Movement (WCRM) and said the movement is all about the residents of Windsor East and West.
The movement collects rent from member tenants and withholds it from the landlords until their demands have been met. The group has been accused of intimidation by landlords and non-member tenants alike.
“We started this movement to stop high rentals, high water and electricity charges, to ensure maintenance of properties, [and address] overcrowding and crime,” said Maruping.
The movement, he said, calls on landlords to address tenants’ complaints. People are, according to him, subletting their dining rooms in order to afford the high rentals.
“In some cases, there are 28 people living in one room, this is not right or healthy.”
Shumani Ndou, a member of the leadership, explained that the movement started in May this year and has since been registered as a non-profit company (NPC). They originally had meetings every week on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6.30pm at the Windsor East Recreation Centre.
More recently they have been reduced to one meeting on a Wednesday. Members are requested to pay a R50 once-off joining fee. Ndou said that the money is used for admin such as printing and the payment of meeting facilities. At present, WCRM has 150 to 300 members.
Maruping addressed the elephant in the room, explaining that it was a community decision not to pay rent. When they realised that discussions or the attempt to engage with landlords were not working, some people in the community agreed to stop paying rent. WCRM opened a community trust account where all rental money is kept.
By the time of publication, the Randburg Sun was unable to obtain a copy of the financial statements of the account.
Maruping did stress, however, that once WCRM members can see that a property is being maintained, looks neat and only three people are living in one room, rentals are paid. There is the possibility, though, that those tenants will be evicted for not paying rent.
There are allegations of intimidation by the WCRM of tenants and landlords who won’t join the group.
“That is a lie! Those who are saying that or evicting people are the very same landlords who never came to talk to us,” said Maruping. “They think what we do is totally wrong but they don’t come with an eviction letter from the High Court or they switch off electricity or water, which is wrong, too.”
In these situations, the WCRM opens a case at the Small Claims Court in Randburg, takes the order to the sheriff of the court who will ensure the water or electricity is turned back on. If this does not happen, the movement goes to the police station to open a case.
Maruping confirmed that the group and members have been taken to the High Court by attorneys Vermaak and Partners inc for cases such as intimidation.
Their next court appearance will be on 29 August.
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