Evicted Schubart Park tenants rough it

Scores of residents of Pretoria's infamous Schubart Park flats have been sleeping in the streets since their evacuation from the dilapidated building on Thursday.

More than 700 families were evacuated from the flats after City of Tshwane officials declared the building uninhabitable.

The move came after violent protests by residents following electricity and water cutoffs. Tyres were burnt inside the building, residents threw bricks and bottles onto the street and a mobile toilet and car were set alight.

The police arrested 79 people for public violence.

Residents tried to lobby the High Court in Pretoria to stop the evacuation, but their application was turned down.

Residents were expected to be relocated to Saulsville in Atteridgeville, about 12km west of the city. The relocation was stopped after protests by Saulsville residents, who claimed they did not want more homeless people in an area where there are already housing backlogs.

Metro spokesman Pieter de Necker said they had renegotiated with Saulsville shack dwellers.

"We had a meeting with community leaders in Saulsville and they understand that the relocation is only temporary and Schubart Park residents needed urgent accommodation. We will transport the residents back to Saulsville today," he said.

He said more that 200 families had registered their names for relocation and women and children would be given priority.

"We are expecting more people to come forward and register but the majority of residents were illegal foreigners who do not have proper documentation, and they are afraid to come forward.

"We will not force people to register, it is their choice whether they want our accommodation, to organise their own or sleep in the street."

Yesterday scores of people, most women and children, were found with their property such as beds, furniture and clothes, on Vermeulen Street opposite the flats.

Some of them were cooking, some sleeping and others were bathing in the street.

Mobile toilets had been erected and emergency vehicles stood opposite the building.

Former residents are being given one meal a day.