A large number of city dwellers attempted to invade a building in downtown Johannesburg on Tuesday even though many of them had been evicted from the same building on Saturday.
Stanhope Mansions in Plein Street was part of the ill-fated Seven Buildings Project which went into liquidation some years ago.
Recently the property was taken over by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) which already had a track record in restoring derelict buildings in the inner-city and converting them into low rental stock.
According to JHC’s new development manager Anton Gollub, there had been discussions with the residents regarding plans for the building and an offer of alternative accommodation in other buildings.
However, Gollub said: ”Those negotiations fell apart because those residents were convinced it was their building”.
He said the tenants then offered to buy Stanhope Mansions but failed to up with the money at the end of the day.
”By then we had incurred all sorts of expenses, including transfer costs,” said Gollub.
He said the JHC was then forced to go to the High Court for permission to evict the tenants. This was granted on Friday, but later that day the judge ordered a halt to the evictions on ”humanitarian grounds” as the weather was very cold.
The company was instructed to open its offices on Saturday morning to allow those who were willing, to sign leases for alternative accommodation in other buildings. At 1pm the evictions could then resume.
Gollub said an unknown number of former residents had attempted to get back into the building several times since the evictions took place. He described the situation as ”volatile”.
Gollub said in its current state, Stanhope Mansions was a serious fire and health hazard and that plans were afoot to do a major refurbishment.
When completed it would offer bedsitters for R400 to R600 and two bedroom flats for R1 200 a month. The JHC currently owns 17 buildings around the city — most of
these have been improved.
”This is the only way we can clean up the city,” he said. – Sapa