http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=25117

City reneges on RDP vow
10 May 2009
thamsanqa magubane

THE residents of the Yellowwood Road settlement, also called Ghost Town, in Woodlands have threatened Msunduzi Municipality with legal action after municipal police apparently demolished their shacks.

The residents reside on land that is legally owned by the municipality. They said on Wednesday that municipal security officers allegedly demolished their informal settlement in an attempt to remove them from the land.

They also allege that they were not given any notice to vacate the area or any court order demanding that they move.

They said they decided to approach the high court to prevent the municipality from taking any further action to remove them from the area.

Speaking through their lawyer Ishana Hassim, the residents said they have written a formal letter to the municipality to prevent them from any further action against the people residing in that area.

Hassim said the municipality destroyed homes, furniture and food. Furthermore, it failed to provide the residents with alternative accommodation so they had to spend a cold night in makeshift shelters.

She said the people resided on the municipal land only because they had been promised that RDP houses would be built for them on that land.

Hassim stressed that what the municipality did was wrong.

“The sad thing is that these people lost half of what they previously owned because of the damage that had been done to their property and belongings.”

Hassim added that the municipal police were careless in their actions as they injured a lot of people when they were destroying the houses because they destroyed homes while there were still people inside.

She said, “A lot of people were injured and many more were affected. And among those who were affected were the elderly and sick babies.”

She confirmed that they had written a formal letter demanding that the municipality cease its actions of removing the people in the area.

Hassim said should the municipality fail to agree to their request, they will seek a court order preventing it from further removal of people in the area and furthermore to compensate the people for what they lost.

The municipality was contacted for comment, but did not respond by the time of going to press.