\n<\/p>\n
Durban \u2013 Vagrants have stripped what was left of the infamous Excelsior Court after police officers inhabiting the building were removed weeks ago.<\/p>\n
A source told the Daily News<\/em> that he was informed that about 40 vagrants left Excelsior Court after stripping the building.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we got there it was like a construction site. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were vagrants walking out of the building with copper pipes, geysers and basins. <\/p>\n \u201cThey even took electric wiring from the lifts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were vagrants working on every single floor. <\/p>\n \u201cOver 100 vagrants were working there, stripping.\u201d<\/p>\n He said some residents left their items on the property but returned to nothing after vagrants smashed the windows to gain access.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the neighbours (of the building) said the vagrants were also there over the weekend and the police were also called then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said a team would return on Tuesday night depending on their manpower.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should see the state of the building. <\/p>\n \u201cThey stripped everything that they could take out of that building,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the police officers were moved out about two or three weeks ago and the building was left uninhabited.<\/p>\n \u201cNow we have moved about 100 vagrants from there,\u201d he said on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are just rats everywhere, it\u2019s an absolute disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Mayville SAPS were on the scene.<\/p>\n Ward councillor Remona Mckenzie said she contacted the Mayville SAPS and informed them about Tuesday\u2019s events at Excelsior Court.<\/p>\n Residents complained about the building being stripped by vagrants and that the bad elements would decrease their values of their properties.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked what was being done. <\/p>\n \u201cI had also written to SAPS for barbed wire so the building could be cordoned off. <\/p>\n \u201cI also asked about the electricity in the building and I was told that it was switched off but there were illegal connections,\u201d Mckenzie said.<\/p>\n She said she was speaking to the Department of Public Works for a report. <\/p>\n She will also be emailing the Department of Health and other departments for there to be a clean-up of the area and the rats.<\/p>\n She said the building was condemned and was a health hazard.<\/p>\n Mckenzie said that on Monday, she and her husband went to the property and found a vagrant who had stripped the building of its copper. <\/p>\n When asked, the vagrant said they were selling it in Grey Street in the city centre.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also a makeshift butchery there. <\/p>\n \u201cSomeone was cutting meat on the floor at the garage. <\/p>\n \u201cThat area is unhygienic,\u201d Mckenzie said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was also informed and sent proof that some police officers were renting out the rooms illegally. <\/p>\n \u201cThe police harassed the renters when they wanted to move out. \u201d<\/p>\n Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said: \u201cThe police are still busy at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n In January this year, DA Durban Central constituency head Dianne Kohler Barnard said for well over a decade, the DA raised the issue of the Excelsior Court slum building.<\/p>\n Barnard said it was reported to Public Works, the national police commissioner, local SAPS, the city council health department and various municipal units \u2014 with zero response.<\/p>\n The SAPS members were ordered to vacate a decade ago but some were still living there\u2026 as well as many others who have no connection to the SAPS.<\/p>\n Daily News<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" – Advertisement – Durban \u2013 Vagrants have stripped what was left of the infamous Excelsior Court after police officers inhabiting the building were removed weeks ago. A source told the Daily News that he was informed that about 40 vagrants left Excelsior Court after stripping the building. \u201cWhen we got there it was like a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1061525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1061524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/a8f22ddb-9c31-583d-9321-eb60d0e056d3.jpg\")
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