These irate residents will gather outside the troubled municipal offices in Makeleketla, Winburg, objecting against the planned eviction of residents. The municipality has earlier decided to effect a 2019 court order to remove residents who allegedly occupied a vacant piece of land in an area known as Zola.

ALSO READ: Free State municipality serves residents with eviction notices

However, the community leader, Mpholo Moshe, has vowed that the residents of Makeleketla will stand together and defend those affected by these eviction orders. Moshe tells OFM News that residents are also expected to hand over a memorandum with demands to the municipal leadership.

ALSO READ: Free State residents to protest if eviction takes place

The municipality has not been available to respond to several OFM News enquiries and is yet to respond.

In the court order, the affected residents have been given a mere 15 days to leave the area. In 2017, the Constitutional Court order determined that judges have an obligation to ensure evictions will not leave people homeless.

ALSO READ: Judges can no longer lawfully order evictions that leave people homeless

Moshe previously said for the past 20 years the said municipality has failed to allocate sites for residents and as a result, people have struggled to get proper housing from the government. The Auditor-General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke, also raised concerns in her latest report this year about the capacity of municipalities across the country to adequately deal with the housing issues.

OFM News