MBANGO Caravan Park residents have been served with a final notice to vacate the park by the end of this month.
Furious residents say they will not be moving until the Hibiscus Coast Municipality serves them with a court order.
“The municipality cannot move us out without a court order,” said one angry resident.
“Where are we supposed to go, we cannot move our caravans and place them somewhere else,” she said. She added that HCM had promised that it would find them a place to stay before moving them out.
“We were told that the municipality would build us RDP houses in Dairy Road in Marburg. We were told that we would move once these houses were complete. So I don’t understand where they want us to go to,” she said.
“We have been living here for years and now they think they can throw us out without relocating us,” she said.
Most of the residents say they cannot afford rent, as they are not working. Most depend on their pension grant.
“The living conditions are terrible; we do not even have water. We have tried to contact Ugu to bring us water tankers but they don’t. We get water from friends,” said another woman.
Residents have also pointed fingers at the ward councillor, Carole Potter, for not helping them. “Cllr Potter is supposed to keep us informed on the latest developments, but she hasn’t,” said yet another angry resident.
“She came with HCM officials to serve us with the notices; she forced us to sign the papers but wouldn’t let us read what we were signing for,” she added.
Cllr Potter said she has been trying to get information on the matter, but was informed by the department of cooperative services that the municipality was taking legal steps to sort out the situation.
“I only found out on the day, that the municipality was going to be serving them final notices. The only reason I went with the HCM officials was to oversee that the process was done correctly as this is a very sensitive matter,” said Cllr Potter.
HCM spokesman Simon April has confirmed that the residents were served with final notices. He explained that the process started after the lease and management of the Sharks Den and Mbango Caravan Park was awarded to Beeg Trading and Projects CC.
“A lease agreement was subsequently entered into between HCM and the company for a period of 25 years, which started in December 2012,” explained Mr April.
He added that after the signing of the lease agreement, Beeg Trading and Projects CC immediately put up a fence around the former Sharks Den Restaurant building in order to prevent vandalism. But Mbango Caravan Park remained a challenge, as the illegal occupiers failed to vacate the premises despite having received notices from HCM.
“Council resolved that in order to facilitate the development plans, the necessary legal action to formally evict the illegal occupiers from Mbango Caravan Park had to be taken. The department of human settlement and infrastructure identified alternative sites to be allocated to those who qualify for a low cost housing scheme,” added Mr April.
He added that, upon investigation, it was established that, of the nine families occupying the park, only five qualify. It was found that the other four occupants could afford their own homes.
“There was never a promise of houses, except that council is considering donating land for the five families identified as destitute. The other four families were served with notices to vacate the land on more than two occasions and have recently been served with final notices to vacate the land before February 28,” he concluded.
