By Luyolo Mkentane
Police had to intervene when a group of about 50 students were unlawfully evicted from their rooms in a Port Elizabeth block of flats on Monday.
The students, from Port Elizabeth and MSC Colleges and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, were evicted from Trocadero Lodge in Havelock Street, Central, at about 8.15am by Irish businessman “Ken Denton’s people”.
Student leader Bamanye Zamxaka said after the eviction they had gone to the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court, “where we were referred to the Legal Aid Board”.
The evictions, which took about 10 hours, followed complaints from the tenants about poor hygiene and safety issues, among other things.
In a letter sent to Denton Properties last month, the tenants said they were “angry, disgusted and we will never believe anyone who represents the Denton company”.
They said further that “for a place (that) costs about R1500 a month, your performance has been outrageously bad”.
Besides thefts and break-ins over the past eight months after the security door stopped functioning, repairs needed to be carried out on the toilets, geysers, kitchens and leaking ceilings, the letter said.
The students also wanted study desks, chairs and beds. The front glass door needed to be fixed and CCTV and lights installed at the entrance.
An angry Zamxaka said: “The place has only two working toilets, which are dirty, and two showers which are also not in a good condition, for about 50 people.
The place is filthy. One of the girls was almost raped at the weekend by an outsider ... there are no security personnel in place.”
A reply sent by Denton Properties manager Peter Hughes to the tenants on October 23, reads:
“It is with concern that we read of your dissatisfaction with service provision at Trocadero Lodge.
Having spoken to the relevant caretaker, maintenance staff and residential portfolio managers, we have concluded that action must be taken to return the boarding house to a beneficial level of operations for both ourselves and you, our customers.”
However, a PE College student who did not want to be named, said they had been engaging Denton Properties on the issue and asking them to attend meetings, but to no avail.
“It’s strange that Denton decided to send his people to unlawfully evict us. That’s why we approached the Legal Aid Board to assist us. Some students missed classes as they couldn’t get into their rooms and were still in pyjamas.”
According to a letter from the Legal Aid Board, the eviction amounted to “a constructive eviction which is expressly prohibited by current legislation”.
Denton refused to comment on the phone last night, saying he had been quoted out of context numerous times.
He said questions, which he promised to answer today, should be e-mailed to him.
