Bongani Hans|Published
THEY LOST everything they have that they built their mansions on the land that belongs to Eskom in Thornville, Pietermaritzburg, as the power company chose to knock them all down yesterday, using a court order in their favor.
It turns out that more than 100 houses were demolished by Red Ant Security Relocation & Eviction Services, who were also armed with guns.
One of the victims was a policeman who used his three-week-old son to try to convince himself that his house would not be demolished.
It said that Eskom suddenly rushed to them.
“We don’t know anything about the paper with the court order, if we knew we wouldn’t have spent our last money to build a house,” said the police officer.
Umkalo, who also asked not to be named, said: “I have a child born and I don’t know where we will go to find shelter if we leave here.”
It appears that residents spent between R15 000 and R60 000 buying land from sellers who claimed to be their owners. Some of the robbers spent close to R1 million to build their mansions.
Another resident was heard saying that his house, which took six months to build, suddenly turned empty in three minutes.
It is said that the owners of the houses, most of whom were at work, were called by others on their mobile phones.
A subsidiary of Eskom, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), received an order from the High Court in Pietermaritzburg last year, to demolish houses built on land near the power plant.
The letter that was issued on July 14, 2025, informed the planners of this land unfairly to demolish their houses within 48 hours, after it was given.
It is said that on August 29, 2025, a letter which was written in Lungu and Zulu, was delivered to the robbers, explaining to them that if they fail to do what is said, the bailiff will start the process of removing them by force.
These residents were living in fear that they would have a bitter Christmas after the bailiff tried to evict them in November.
However, there was silence on the part of Eskom and the bailiff, and they were busy preparing for this and it finally happened yesterday.
The community leader, who refused to give his name, said the residents should have been given 30 days to leave the area, before the demolition of the houses began.
“There were discussions with Eskom, who said that they will still check who is living on their land but now they are abusing their power to demolish people’s homes. Right now we are going to court, we want you to build these houses that you demolished,” said the leader.
When contacted, the local councillor, Mr. Vincent Maphumulo, said that he is still very busy and will not be able to speak.
A Richmond Municipality official who was not authorized to speak to the media, said residents were warned not to continue building on Eskom’s land.
“They continued even though they were even shown a letter warning them to leave the area. A number of meetings were held where they were warned verbally,” said the officer.
Efforts to get a comment from Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, were unsuccessful.