SEVENTEEN people have been arrested in Mbekweni after they stoned the house of a local resident whom they wish removed from the area.
Eunice Feke was forced to move from the house in White City by the area committee, who ruled in favour of another family, but returned to the house after her lawyer obtained an ex parte court interdict against the Municipality last week.
When Feke moved in on Wednesday last week, her house was stoned by an angry mob.
Seventeen people were arrested and appeared in the Paarl court on Monday on charges of public violence.
Among the accused is municipal employee Johnson Zwinye, chairperson of the area committee, who was previously investigated on charges of corruption for trying to influence the housing list.
The case was postponed until 7 July.
According to Feke, she returned to her house in White City last week when the sheriff and the police ordered the people staying in the house to leave.
“About 40 people stoned my house when I moved in and I could not sleep there. I still cannot sleep there, though the incident was reported to the police,” Feke said.
That night Feke had to flee her house.
“My life was in danger. The police were called and they arrested some of the people. The others who also stoned my house are still free,” said Feke.
The whole situation is a result of a housing dispute brewing between people living in White City, Paarl, and ward councillors, Drakenstein municipal officials and the Local Negotiation Com mittee (LNG) involved in the allocation of houses in the area.
The houses in question are former hostels which have been subdivided into housing units.
These units were allocated to the tenants who had lived there the longest, for the purpose of rental and service payment, while a number of families remained, sharing the units with them.
According to the Drakenstein Municipality spokesperson, Anthony Sauls, it is the people in White City who do not want Feke to stay in the house.
“A new house in Project 2 was allocated to her, but she does not want to move, and insists on staying in the original house.”
According to Feke she has lived in the house since 1991, which is bigger than the new house offered to her in its place.
It is unclear whether the community’s opposition stems from political allegiances or her alleged sale of liquor from her home
