Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday 15 June 2003
Suthentira Govender
To add to the family's woes, the eThekwini municipality recently threatened them with eviction if they did not settle their rental arrears.
The Naidoos are among hundreds of families in Bayview, Chatsworth, who have received letters from the council saying that it will be forced to resort to legal action to recover debt unless arrangements are made to settle the arrears.
Last year the council announced that indigent families living in council houses and flats in areas such as Chatsworth, Phoenix and Verulam would benefit from a R17-million debt cancellation scheme.
Brandon Pillay, chairman of the Bayview Flat Residents' Association, accused the council of reneging on its promise to scrap rental arrears incurred between 1995 and 1999.
"At least 90% of the tenants in Bayview are in the red with the council. Most of these people have been retrenched or are unemployed. This is a breach of promise, the council is being unrealistic. Some of the tenants owe thousands of rands. Many of them don't know where their next meal is coming from," said Pillay.
He said the council was "trying to squeeze blood from a stone".
"Recently the council sent out field workers to the area to conduct a survey of the socio-economic conditions of tenants. They believed it was being conducted in order for their arrears to be written off, but they were misled.
"The council has done nothing to develop this community. It is ludicrous that they are expecting poverty-stricken people to cough up these huge sums of money."
Pillay has enlisted the help of the Institute for Black Research to help them in their fight.
"We are consulting attorneys about this matter. We have been victimised for far too long. We are going to mobilise the community and take some sort of mass action."
The Naidoos, who depend on the goodwill of neighbours, are worried that they may soon be thrown out.
"We owe the council thousands of rands. My husband is extremely ill and we can't even afford nutritious food to sustain ourselves," she said.
"We only discovered about nine months ago that we were HIV-positive when my baby, Andrea, was tested. It was a huge shock. Since then, life has become almost unbearable.
"I'm unable to work because I am ill. I have applied for a care dependency grant and child support grants, but none of these have been approved yet. We have no income, and now, to make matters worse, the council is demanding money that we don't have."
Naidoo said her family would have no place to live if the council evicted them from their one-roomed flat.
Pensioner Ellama Pillay, who supports her children and grandchildren, has also received a letter of demand from the council.
"I owe the council R24 000 in outstanding electricity and rent bills. The arrears are mounting, but I don't have the money to pay the council. We were told our arrears would be written off, now the council is giving us a different story. They have misled us," said Pillay.
Cogie Pather, head of the council's housing department, said the letters were part of the municipality's "normal debt recovering process".
"We have given an undertaking that arrears until 30 June 1999 will be written off. We are holding back on evictions until the right of procedure has been finalised," he said.
"If people are earning above R1 500 and don't pay their current rent, then drastic action can be taken."
Pather said a recent survey was carried out to determine how much of the arrears would be written off.
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