Taylor Road informal settlement residents face eviction.
2 February is the deadline set by the land owner as the Northsider understands that the owner has an eviction order in his possession that he plans to execute by the said date.
It was understood that the attorney representing the land owner has met with the concerned parties and gave them a month’s notice to move.
The residents’ move is long overdue as the court ruled in April last year that the City of Johannesburg needed to move the residents by September 2014. Residents like Emily Mbaxa who lives in the settlement, said they are ready to move and they are waiting for the City Council to execute their relocation.
Chairperson for the Home Owner’s Association Johan Olivier shared his sentiments over the conditions these residents live under. “There is no running water and no proper sanitation, it must obviously be hard to live under those conditions.”
From a home owner’s perspective, he said having the settlement was a frustrating factor for them as well as other home owners around the area. “This settlement obviously affects our property value. Residents whose homes are close to the boundary wall of the settlement don’t have peace of mind, especially over weekends as it gets noisy because of the shebeen being run from down there,” explained Olivier.
Spokesperson for the Department of Housing of the City of Johannesburg failed to respond to numerous emails sent to her on the matter.
