MIDDELBURG – A 41-year-old mother of seven cried foul while recounting her sad tale of forced removal by the Steve Tshwete municipality. Gertrude Sefoloshe, also caring for a child with a disability, was first seen in a video published on social media wearing ANC regalia, complaining of harassment by municipal officials who cut her electrical cable before destroying parts of her shack in Newtown, Mhluzi. “They did not give me any notice that they would come and remove me,” she told the Highveld Chronicle. “They came on Sunday to cut the cable and confiscated my electricity meter, telling me to move out,” she said. “Then they demolished parts of my shack and destroyed my children’s clothes, mine as well as my children’s school books.” Sefoloshe said she has been living on the stand since 1995, and her situation is well known by the ward councillor. “I grew up here, as a child, and I have been staying here ever since. I am so disappointed by the municipality as well as my councillor, who told me to go back to where I come from.”
Ward 27 councillor Marumo Sekgwele said the poor woman does not have a lease agreement with the municipality. “It is a blatant lie that she started living in the area from 1995,” Sekgwele said in response. “She started living in the area in 2019, and there is a council resolution that grants lease agreements to those who have been residing in the area before 2012.” Community activist Emmanuel Kumbane said they are going to court in a bid to stop the forced removals. “We are planning to approach the court for an urgent order to stop the ongoing removals,” he said, adding that he has received a mandate from more than 200 affected residents after efforts to engage the municipality did not succeed.
