ELSIES RIVER
E-pos: tyger@dieburger.com
Woensdag 3 Oktober 2012
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Pierre tough to snooker
Pierre Jordaan keeps his eye on the ball, and some of his trophies, as he plans to play in the World Championships. Jordaan, a policeman and a com munications officer at the Elsies River police is cur rently ranked first in South Africa and is set to take part in the World Championships in Bulgaria later this year. Story on pg 2. Photo: Gary van Dyk
) High Court overturns Communicare
Evictees go home ANDRÉ BAKKES
The Cape Town High Court ruled on Friday that the eight Ruyterwacht families who were evicted two weeks ago from their Communicare houses in Ruyterwacht can return to their homes. The attorney representing the people of Ruyterwacht and secretary of the Ruyterwacht Tenants’ Committee, John Adams, worked into the small hours of the morning
to see that justice was served. The threats of evictions have been coming for months, but on Wednesday 19 September, they began in earnest. Eight families were “put out on the street” with no plan put in place for where they should sleep that night. Their friends and family offered alternative places to sleep and on the Thursday when it rained, the City of Cape Town managed to organise a place where the families’
belongings could be stored. Ward councillor Michael Britz and Councillor Cedric Thomas activated disaster management and this unit, along with the city and the province’s Department of Social Development offered help where they could. “It shows we’re a city that cares,” explains Thomas. Be this as it may, the eviction itself was something those who it involved would like to forget. One person who was evicted and
wishes to stay anonymous feels it was done in an undignified manner and that it was one of the most traumatic moments in her life. She also alleged that she received no prior notice of eviction. Communicare, the Section 21 company that owns a large portion of Ruyterwacht and rents it out to low-income households, has been at loggerheads with some residents for a very long time. Joel Mkunqwana, Social Housing and Community Development di-
rector, explains that tenants are evicted when they breach the lease agreement. “The tenants in Ruyterwacht were evicted due to rental arrears. When tenants default in rental payments, it results in a loss in revenue which could affect our ability to render efficient services such as maintenance, gardening, cleaning, security services, customer relations and supportive social development programmes,” he says. . To page 2.