THURSDAY, 4.00PM:
POLICE this morning used a water cannon to disperse Inkatha Freedom Party supporters resisitng eviction from Penduka section in Thokoza on the East Rand.
The houses in Penduka section have been illegally occupied by IFP-supporting families since the early 1990s, when political violenec between supporters of the African National Congress and the IFP caused the lawful occupants to flee the area. The lawful occupants of the houses have since been living in East Rand shantytowns.
Illeagl occupants of the Penduka houses were first evicted last December, but soon moved back into the houses. Local IFP representative Sipho Sithole today said the legal owners of the houses will not be allowed to return. Police, meanwhile, warned that evictees who return to the houses will be arrested and prosecuted.
About 600 IFP supporters were living in 120 houses in Penduka section. By noon Thursday about 70 of the houses had been cleared. Some of the evictees co-operated in the move. They will be housed in Thokoza’s hostel number three, which some of them have described as being “not fit for a pig to live there”.
SA National Civics Organisation representative Lefu Hanong said the lawful residents will start moving back in a month’s time, after damage to the houses has been repaired. Hanong was earlier whisked away from the scene of the evictions after angry residents tried to grab him.