Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi

Mfundekelwa Mkhulisi

Hundreds of residents of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, were evicted from the RDP houses that they had invaded two weeks ago.

The angry residents resisted the evictions yesterday but police threatened to fire rubber bullets. When they eventually moved out of the houses, they protested and interrupted traffic on London Road.

"We are not going anywhere. These are our houses," said Melusi Mazibuko.

He said he invaded the house on Thursday after he saw other people doing the same. "I applied for a house in 1996 but I am still on the waiting list."

Mazibuko claimed that there was corruption in housing delivery.

Thuli Khumalo said she lived in a shack with her two children and needed a decent house.

"I am unemployed and cannot afford to buy a house. I decided to invade one of these houses because people who applied after us have already been allocated houses," she said.

Khumalo said she had been to the local councillor's office several times but always came back empty-handed.

Residents said they wanted ANC president Jacob Zuma to address their problems.

They said the houses were ready for occupation last August but no allocation has been done.

Protest leader Lewinsky Booi said their action was to highlight their anger over the way RDP houses were allocated.

"Today they use the list to allocate the house, the next day they use another method. It is confusing."