Thato Kgoathane, who resides in the affected area, tells OFM News that Mangaung officials stormed into their area and started to illegally evict the residents on Tuesday. He says that about 46 shanty houses of these families were destroyed and some of their household items were burned by the officials who were evicting them. This has fuelled the tension among members of the Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF), who have threatened to disrupt the upcoming local elections. The MSDF chairperson, Potso Motoko, told OFM News that the Free State government is failing the residents of Mangaung.

READ MORE: MSDF piles pressure on Mangaung municipality

“As per the experience that we have with this municipality, they will never ever allocate sites unless there is a problem and there is a protest, and that is when the people will be taking sites by force. That is how they operate and unfortunately, on Friday, we will be embarking on a march also to make sure that the Premier is getting involved. We want to make sure that she deals with those who were arrested and those properties that were demolished, and our people getting those sites,” said Motoko.

Meanwhile, Kgoathane also told OFM News that some of the residents who were evicted from Section F, were assisted by the local foundation so that they have a place to sleep while they are in the process of addressing these issues with the municipality.

OFM News