WATCH: Single Durban mom chucked out of home for 'trespassing'
|Published
Cynthia King, who lives with her daughter and 2-year-old grandson, was evicted from her home in Howell Estate, Sydenham, yesterday morning and charged with trespassing. I Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency (ANA) Cynthia King, who lives with her daughter and 2-year-old grandson, was evicted from her home in Howell Estate, Sydenham, yesterday morning and charged with trespassing. I Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency (ANA)
Durban - A single mother was evicted from her Sydenham, Durban, home and charged
with trespassing leaving neighbours to take care of her daughter and grandson.
At about 8am on Thursday while Cynthia King was sleeping, along with her 2-year-old grandson and young daughter inside their house in Howell Estate, there was a loud bang at her door.
It was security guards from First Metro Housing, the property’s owners, who were trying to break her lock so they could evict her.
King, along with some of her neighbours, had been served with an eviction notice after they collectively decided to stop paying rent in 2014.
Janine Neitski, who lives next door to King, was also startled by the heavy thuds and went outside to check.
A single mother was evicted from her Sydenham, Durban, home and charged with trespassing yesterday, leaving neighbours to take care of her daughter and grandson. Video: Thabiso Goba
“There were these big guys trying to gain entry into Cynthia’s house. We told them they do not have a right to evict her without a warrant, but they carried on,” she said.
In a video taken by community members, the security guards can be seen using a steel saw to break the locks while neighbours surround them, shouting and screaming.
The police took King to the nearby police station where she was charged with trespassing.
Roy Young, one of the community leaders, said the matter of who owned the 212 housing units at the Howell Estate was still under court review.
In documents seen by the Daily News, a Rental Housing Tribunal between First Metro Housing and Howell Estate residents is scheduled for August 7.
“This not how you treat people with families. We have been living here for over 16 years, we cannot just up and go,” said Young.
Young said about 63 families have been evicted so far.
Cynthia King, who lives with her daughter and 2-year-old grandson, was evicted from her home in Howell Estate, Sydenham, yesterday morning and charged with trespassing. Video: Thabiso Goba
Mbulelo Baloyi, spokesperson for the Department of Human Settlements and Public Works, said while he felt sympathy for the evicted families the matter had been settled a long time ago by the department.
“We established a task team to look into this years ago and found that the property did, indeed, belong to First Metro Company. As a department, we then took people who could not pay rent to get RDP houses in Cornubia,” he said.
Baloyi said the department’s hands were tied and that the community was free to exhaust all legal processes.
First Metro Housing Company has not issued any media statements since issues with residents at Howell Estate started in 2014.