Hundreds of homeless people living in bushes and at a refuse site were removed by authorities in operations on Thursday.
The evictions, in Bunkers Hill and Ntabozuko, concluded a week marked by demolitions executed in different parts of the metro which saw scores of “illegal” occupants displaced.
Early on Thursday, law enforcement agencies, summoned by DA councillors Funeka Wolose and Jason Scott McDowell, held a bush-clearing operation in the quiet neighbourhoods of Baysville and Bunkers Hill.
McDowell said the initiative was undertaken to remove five illegal shacks and address the influx of dwellers into the nature reserve area, which was said to have contributed to rising crime in both communities.
The joint operation by the city’s law enforcement, SAPS and private security companies, saw the removal of about five shacks in the bushy area adjacent to John Bailie Road.
Quigney ward councillor Wolose said she received a call from a ratepayer in Baysville who said they noticed people starting a fire in the bushes.
“I went there — it is the border area between my ward and Jason’s. But the structures were on my side.
“We arranged a meeting last week, asking law enforcement to assist us in removing these people.
“We removed five huts made of plastic and pallets.”
They will not go away unless [law enforcement] does a consistent operation on a weekly or daily basis like our teams from the ratepayers’ association, do.
— Quigney Ratepayers’ Association chair Satish Nair
Wolose said there had been house break-ins in Baysville, with the culprits escaping into the bushes.
“Working with law enforcement and the city, we will remove other dwellings.”
A solid waste company was hired to clear the bush between John Bailie Road and Galway Road in Bunkers Hill.
This included a section along the Esplanade.
However, Quigney Ratepayers’ Association chair Satish Nair said the operation would have no effect and the vagrants would return to the area by midnight.
“They will not go away unless [law enforcement] does a consistent operation on a weekly or daily basis like our teams from the ratepayers’ association, do.
“From the stoep to the Wimpy, we make sure all the bushes are clear. We have to do it daily.”
Nair said the last cleanup by the city was four months ago.
“It’s not going to work. It’s a box-ticking exercise,” he said.
At the Roundhill Landfill Site in Ntabozuko, hundreds of shack dwellers were evicted by BCM law enforcement.
For more than two decades, the landfill has seen people setting up stands and shacks at its entrance, even opening a market to sell recycled goods. Many of the shacks were erected adjacent to a railway line that runs past the landfill site.
The metro, together with Transnet, demolished these shacks.
According to BCM, dwellers are not supposed to live within 800m of the railway site.
When the Dispatch team arrived on Thursday, piles of personal items had been burned, while evicted residents tried to save what they could carry.
Nondumiso Mpushe, originally from Chicken Farm but who has been living at the landfill site since 2013, said they should have been provided with alternative accommodation.
“We live by recycling to put food on the table so that our children can go to school.
“Police gave us 15 minutes to pack our stuff. No one gave us a notice.
“I lost my medication and everything. We will sleep here because they did not provide anywhere else to go.”
Mpushe said she had been unable to get an RDP house or a site to build a shack.
“Living on the streets is not something I wanted. It is heartbreaking. I am losing the only place I called home.”
Thozamile Gxasheka said: “I don’t know where I will stay. I have nobody.
“This was my last resort and it felt like a place of safety because we were a community.”
Bukelwa Hali said she worried about providing shelter for her children.
“They are still young and it’s dangerous out there. I don’t know what to do.”
BCM said the eviction was carried out following a directive by the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) after it conducted a rail safety inspection and identified “significant safety non-conformance” at the Roundhill Level Crossing.
BCM spokesperson Bongani Fuzile said the inspection revealed that people had illegally settled within Transnet’s rail reserve, creating immediate risk to human life and railway operations.
“A high number of reserve dwellers were found to be illegally settling adjacent to the railway track.”
Fuzile said the RSR instructed Transnet to submit a detailed plan outlining how and when the illegal dwellers would be removed, as well as how the site would be monitored to prevent reoccupation.
Fuzile emphasised that Transnet was the lead authority in the operation.
“The structures were erected within Transnet’s rail reserve, which is restricted property and not zoned or safe for human habitation.”
He said the occupants had been notified in advance.
“On the day of eviction, they were also given time to move their valuables,” Fuzile said.
“The area is unsafe due to the proximity to active railway lines, exposure to waste-management operations and associated hazards.
“Environmental and health risks linked to living on or near waste disposal sites are also major concerns, especially for children growing up in such an environment,” Fuzile said.
Daily Dispatch
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