THE beneficiaries of these houses abandoned them in 2022 after being threatened with death.
A group of men armed with pangas and guns evicted the beneficiaries, claiming to have bought the houses from some Ekurhuleni municipal housing officials.
Police intervened, but the beneficiaries continued receiving threats.
The houses in Madiba Park in Springs, Ekurhuleni, are standing empty now, and thugs are capitalising on this.
They started by removing solar geysers, sinks, and toilet sets, and now they are taking doors, door frames and windows.
On Tuesday, 13 June, residents who had volunteered to patrol to prevent further vandalism found a thief busy bending window frames inside one of the houses and putting them inside the wheelie bin to sell to the scrapyard.
Patrollers chased him, but he outran them.
Nearby residents said the houses are also a hideout for thugs.
The beneficiaries said it's heartbreaking to see their houses being ruined like this.
"We want our houses back, but we are helpless as we don't know what those who evicted us may do this time," said one of the beneficiaries.
Houses were allocated to them in 2021 by Ekurhuleni housing officials.
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But soon after they moved in, a group of men came to destroy their belongings and forced them to move out.
In 2022, Ekurhuleni municipality promised to deploy metro cops to guard the houses, but they did so for a few days and stopped.
Community leader Morris Matjie said the damage to the houses saddens them.
"We decided to volunteer after seeing how thugs, especially small businesses, come here to fish for the building materials.
“We found some window frames removed from houses and neatly packed inside some of the houses. It means the perpetrators were coming to take them at night," said Morris.
Residents said they never opened cases with the police because cops weren't doing anything about the matter.
Another patroller said on Monday, 12 June, they saw a small bakkie among the houses at night, and the occupants fled when they saw them.
Matjie said that they raised the matter with the regional ANC office, but little was done.
Bongani Mfobela, ANC regional secretary, appealed to the beneficiaries to occupy their houses to prevent further vandalism.
"We allocated houses to 78 beneficiaries, and I think the number is enough to fight invaders," he said.
