By SIMTHANDILE FORD and ZWANGA MUKHUTHU
Buffalo City Metro law enforcement were yesterday accused of employing military tactics when they demolished four shacks, leaving families destitute.
The demolition took place in Mpaku Street in Duncan Village shortly after 8am yesterday.
Residents said four law enforcement vans were accompanied by a municipal bakkie and a truck, which were loaded with building materials after the shacks were flattened.
This was to avoid a situation where the families would simply rebuild as soon as the officials left.
Devastated families told the Daily Dispatch that the officials had told them they were acting according to a court order to remove them from municipal land. However, they did not produce copies of the order.
The Daily Dispatch sent questions to the metro, but there was no response at the time of writing late yesterday.
Andiswa Bawuti, who is a mother of two, said she just heard a noise outside her shack and then saw two BCM law enforcement employees starting to break it down.
“I asked them what they were doing. They said they had instructions to come demolish all the shacks that were in the area because they were illegally erected.”
The four shacks stood at the corner of Mpaku Street where the public toilets once were.
When the Daily Dispatch arrived the families were sitting on what few pieces of furniture had survived the demolition.
They said there had been no warning from the BCM.
Siyabonga Sigweni, who had just finished building his home, said he was at work when he received a call from his neighbour.
“I am extremely angry with what has just happened because we only heard rumours on the streets that we would be removed and when we tried to approach our councillor, he could not be reached to assist us because at the BCM office we were told that for us to build here, we must get approval from our councillor,” said Sigweni.
Sigweni shares the shack with his 60-year-old grandmother and four brothers. The family said it would have to go from shack to shack to ask for a place to sleep until they figured out a new way.
The pain of being homeless was too much to bear for 46-year-old Zukiswa Jijingubo. She is the mother of a three-year-old girl and makes a living by selling sheep heads.
“I don’t know what I am going to eat or where I’m going to sleep with my child,” Jijingubo said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Families in despair as homes lost
Buffalo City Metro law enforcement were yesterday accused of employing military tactics when they demolished four shacks, leaving families destitute.
The demolition took place in Mpaku Street in Duncan Village shortly after 8am yesterday.
Residents said four law enforcement vans were accompanied by a municipal bakkie and a truck, which were loaded with building materials after the shacks were flattened.
This was to avoid a situation where the families would simply rebuild as soon as the officials left.
Devastated families told the Daily Dispatch that the officials had told them they were acting according to a court order to remove them from municipal land. However, they did not produce copies of the order.
The Daily Dispatch sent questions to the metro, but there was no response at the time of writing late yesterday.
Andiswa Bawuti, who is a mother of two, said she just heard a noise outside her shack and then saw two BCM law enforcement employees starting to break it down.
“I asked them what they were doing. They said they had instructions to come demolish all the shacks that were in the area because they were illegally erected.”
The four shacks stood at the corner of Mpaku Street where the public toilets once were.
When the Daily Dispatch arrived the families were sitting on what few pieces of furniture had survived the demolition.
They said there had been no warning from the BCM.
Siyabonga Sigweni, who had just finished building his home, said he was at work when he received a call from his neighbour.
“I am extremely angry with what has just happened because we only heard rumours on the streets that we would be removed and when we tried to approach our councillor, he could not be reached to assist us because at the BCM office we were told that for us to build here, we must get approval from our councillor,” said Sigweni.
Sigweni shares the shack with his 60-year-old grandmother and four brothers. The family said it would have to go from shack to shack to ask for a place to sleep until they figured out a new way.
The pain of being homeless was too much to bear for 46-year-old Zukiswa Jijingubo. She is the mother of a three-year-old girl and makes a living by selling sheep heads.
“I don’t know what I am going to eat or where I’m going to sleep with my child,” Jijingubo said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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