The arrest of an 81-year Kroonstad elderly woman and her six-month old great-grandchild for illegal occupation of land has caused an outcry in her community.
Thokozile Mbhele, who is charged with trespassing, will go on trial from August 31, following her arrest in May. The Moqhaka Local Municipality had issued an eviction order for all illegal land occupation. Mbhele says she has been applying for a house for years.
She is among many South Africans, who after waiting for years, continue to sit on the government’s waiting list to receive a house. She is landless and does not have a house, and desperation led her to occupy land illegally in Maokeng, Kroonstad. Her arrest in May, and subsequent court appearances, have caused her humiliation and led to an uproar in her community.
Mbhele says she has suffered waiting for a house.
“It’s been a long time of suffering like this. I can’t get a place to stay I don’t know why. It’s been years applying for a house. I can’t even remember the year I started looking for a house but it’s been years, but I can’t get a house. I am suffering,” she laments.
Her granddaughter, Jabulile Mbhlele, questions why the government has overlooked her granny for the provision of housing. On the day of her grandmother’s arrest, police fetched her from work to arrest her for trespassing as well.
Jabulile who has a six-month old breastfeeding baby, says both she and her baby were looked up in a cell
“My child was already hungry and crying, and wanted to feed. Why is our black government doing this to us? Other people get houses but not us, we are just told we are on the waiting list.”
Deputy-president of the Azanian People’s Organisation, Kekeletso Khena, says the indignity suffered by landless black people is an injustice.
“Outside of the fact that we are looking at the indignity within which an 81-year old was treated, this is the kind of indignity that black people are subjected to. It’s the indignity of not having land in the land of their birth. Nobody thinks that when you are born in this country you should need to be allocated space within which you must live.
Khena went on to question the ethics of how Mbhele could be 81 and still be without a place to stay.
Municipality and province vow to take action
Mzwakhe Mofokeng, the newly appointed acting municipal manager for Moqhaka Local Municipality, says they do not condone land grabs, but will assist Mbhele in order to restore her dignity. He has also admitted that there is a huge backlog in terms of site allocations.
“I will personally, as municipal manager, do everything possible to ensure that the old lady gets a roof over her head- even if it’s temporary. Secondly, I will look into how we can assist her [legally] even if we make a representation to the Director of Public Prosecutions in the province or the senior Public Prosecutor in the area for this case to be relooked.”
The provincial Department of Human Settlements in the Free State says Thokozile Mbhele and others like her should have shelter provided to them. Adding that the local municipality must expedite site allocations.
A spokesperson for the Free State Human Settlements says the department, municipalities and communities will work together to ensure that the elderly like Thokozile Mbhele have shelter provided to them.
