By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
Ward 116 councillor, Adolph Marema, warned residents of 20th Selbourne against building near the Juiskei River.
Marema spoke during the meeting with his constituents, reminding them of the horrendous 2016 flood that left dozens of residents displaced in his neighbourhood.
As a result, the affected were housed in a local church, where Marema also slept for several days trying to find alternative safer land to relocate them.
“I even stayed with some of you in the church after the 2016 flood. However, we couldn’t find the solution and some came back to stay where they stayed before,” he said.
“You are not allowed to stay in the flooding area. Please stop building shacks there because in the rainy season you will die,” warned Marema.
Marema’s meeting was prompted by a group of angry men and women who went to the area earlier.
The group was tearing down shacks that became vacant when Dudual removed some occupants, particularly foreign nationals a few weeks ago.
Msyza Rati, leader of Dudula has since been arrested in relation to that pending his court appearance on the 20th June.
It is alleged that out of 9 empty shacks, some have already been purchased.
However, the group’s action was halted when the members of the SAPS and the JMPD arrived.
Marema said he had no tolerance for what Dudula did, saying it was against the law.
He said he was repeatedly approached by Dudula who wanted permission to remove dwellers from the area.
“Dudula has been calling me since last year, saying they want to demolish all shacks here. But I have been giving them a run around for a long time.
“Because I work with the law, I will give no one permission to do anything illegal.”
Marema said the only people who were going to tear down the vacant shacks in the area were the police.
He also warned those who allegedly occupied shacks that were left vacant when Dudula removed people to leave with immediate effect.
“Apparently there are people who entered the vacant rooms . If you are here, I will remove you. And if you want to come after me, come. But what I know is that you won’t win.”
He said the mushrooming of shacks was the major contributor to the power outage in the area.
