“It broke my heart to watch officials, who have places to stay, destroy my shack and leave with my building material”
By Vincent Lali
Law enforcement officials removed at least six shacks and seized building materials near Lansdowne Road in Philippi on Monday.
Residents had marked out over 400 plots with stones, plastic bags and small wooden planks and started erecting shacks. There have been attempts to occupy the land for two weeks.
Nomsa Thafeni, who is 58, says she will have to move out of the house in which she is currently staying when the owner returns from Gatyana Village in the Eastern Cape.
“I live off money I make from recycling discarded materials, but I don’t make enough money to pay rent,” said Thafeni. She was hoping to settle on the empty land near Lansdowne Road.
She said she erected her shacks on the land two weeks ago.
“The officials have been destroying my building materials each time I build my shack here,” she said. “It breaks my heart that I have lost all that building material.”
She said various people had given her corrugated iron sheets and wooden planks after she walked around begging for materials.
Thafeni managed to salvage a few plastic bottles stuffed in a washing basin and some plastic bags, which she will sell to recyclers.