Police spokesperson, Adéle Myburgh, tells OFM News that four men were nabbed by the public order police during the eviction and demolition of plus-minus 900 shacks in that area. The operation is also set to continue on Tuesday with the police deployed to the area to maintain law and order. Myburgh says the suspects will appear in the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, the EFF provincial secretary, Papiki Babuile, says one of its councillors was amongst those who were nabbed by the police for public violence during the eviction and demolition operation in that area.

Babuile has also denied residents' allegations that the arrested councillor had asked them for R6 000 bribes in exchange for a piece of land.

Babuile told OFM News that the allegations are pure lies. He says around December 2020, an established committee in Jacaranda was informed that residents would be evicted and that prompted the committee to ask everyone to contribute at least R50 each towards the funding of a court action against the eviction.

The local municipality also issued a stern warning to residents from illegally invading the municipal land. The municipal director of Housing and Human Settlements, Boganne Choche, said residents should exercise caution, by not invading council-owned land and to observe the correct procedures to obtain access to land for development purposes.  

The eviction of residents took place despite a 2017 Constitutional Court judgment that judges have an obligation to ensure that evictions will not leave people homeless.

OFM News