LINMEYER – “We are willing to sign a contract with the new owner and pay rent for the rooms we’ve been renting,” said a lady who was nominated to speak on behalf of other illegal squatters occupying a house taken over in Linmeyer.
However, the new owner of the house on the corner South Rand Road and Martha Street is not having it, especially after having been assaulted by the illegal occupants at the overtaken house.
The assault took place when he went to inspect the property for all the repairs that needed to be done in order for the property to be resold.
Mr Kabelo has refused to allow any of the previous occupants back into the house, and said that getting them out was a victory for him and his business partner.
Responding to accusations made by the squatters that Mr Kabelo is a known property ‘hijacker’ who bribes court officials and SAPS officers to provide him with legal documents to conduct evictions, this is what he said:
“My business partner and I bought the property last year at an auction. We are in the business of buying bank repossessed properties at auction sales and then refurbishing them for resale. When my partner and I bought the property on the corner of South Rand Road and Martha Street, we had also bought another repossessed property in Mondeor on Boswell and Columbine Avenue.”
Mr Kabelo assured the CHRONICLE that all court documents were in fact legal and that the whole process of eviction at the Linmeyer property has cost them an estimated amount of R65 0000; R25 000 for the application for eviction and R40 000 to get evictors at remove the squatters.
The application of eviction started six months ago.
SAPS Sherriff officials also confirmed that they conducted a background check on Mr Kabelo and his partner to check if everything was above board. The Sherriff ascertained the legitimacy of the court documents, which had valid court stamps on all pages, with the Sherriff of the court who was also at the eviction.
“We gave them so many letters to vacate the property last year, and we have had a real challenge dealing with these occupants,” said Mr Kabelo.
During the eviction on October 7, the house which is built to be a five-room dwelling, had been partitioned into a sixteen-room commune. In the backyard a tiny shack was found, which was occupied by an Indian man and a white woman said to be his girlfriend. It also appeared that the lapa was also occupied by squatters as there were beds under it.
The official residence spotted a bar, which was in full operation, and was suspected by police officers to have been a place where drug customers indulged in alcohol and also where prostitutes entertained their clients.
