The residents of the Chambers block of flats in New Doornfontein spent the weekend on the street after the Red Ants removed them from the building on Friday afternoon. Some of the residents are physically disabled and 112 of them are blind.

The eviction comes amid concern about the implications of the upcoming Soccer World Cup for poor inner-city residents. Coca- Cola Park is one of the match venues for the World Cup.

Many of the buildings in the Doornfontein area have been neglected by their owners for years, and have been lawfully and unlawfully occupied by the poor. Now they are prime property.

After a long day at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, the residents and the new owners of the building, Dusty Gold Investments 3, agreed the residents would temporarily be allowed back until the court had ruled on whether the eviction order was lawful.

One of the residents, Jethro Gonese, told Business Day they had been threatened and their property looted at the weekend. He said some of the residents were ill as a result of the rain and the lack of toilets.
They were taken totally by surprise by the eviction, Gonese said, as some of them had paid their rent on Friday morning.

But Dusty Gold said in its court papers that the eviction was done by the book. It said the eviction was sanctioned by a court order and notice of it was posted on the door of every resident.

The residents, represented by the Legal Resources Centre, said they had no notice of the eviction nor of the court hearing on it.

Their counsel, Adrian Friedman, told the court they found it "very strange" that both the notice indicating an eviction would be sought in court and the notice of the court's eviction order were signed as received by the same five names. The residents said they did not know those people.

Dusty Gold Investments disputed that the tenants had no knowledge of the eviction. But the company agreed to an expedited process in which the residents would apply to court to have the eviction order rescinded.

By Franny Rabkin
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