Ms Esther Hlungwane of Shirley village in the Waterval area asked Mirror for assistance after a government employee, who was allowed to stay in her RDP house by a councillor after his house burned down in 2007, has refused to give her house back. This is despite a court order issued by the Waterval Magistrate Court that the man, Freddy Matswanya, had to evacuate the house. The court order issued early this year gave Matswanya until January 2010 to evacuate the house. Matswanya, who is working at the Thohoyandou offices of the House of Traditional Leaders, is now refusing to move out of the house. According to Councillor Wilfred Mashele of Ward 17 of the Makhado Municipality, Matswanya was allowed to stay in the house temporarily because his house was burnt down in 2007 by unknown arsonists. "We therefore, with an intervention from the Department of Safety and Security, allowed Matswanya to stay in the RDP house while he searched for other accommodation. So now, because the owner of the house wants her house back, Matswanya must move out," he said. Mashele added that the man was not given the house. "It was just temporary accommodation because he had no place to stay. It is, however, surprising that the man whom we assisted when he did not have a place to stay, is now refusing to give back the house," he said. He added that as a government employee, Matswanya did not qualify for an RDP house, because his salary allowed him to build his own house. The owner of the RDP house, Ms Ester Hlungwane, is now stranded. "I agreed that he could stay in the house, because his house had burnt down and he did not have a place to stay. I didn´t know that it would be this difficult for him to give the house back. The house is registered in my name and I want it back," said the unemployed Hlungwane. Although Matswanya was given a letter from the Waterval Magistrate Court indicating that he should move from the house in January this year, he still refuses to move out. In a letter in possession of Mirror, the man signed an agreement that he would evacuate the house by January this year. "We have now consulted with the National Legal Aid Board for assistance in this regard, because the Waterval Magistrate Court was unable to evict Matswanya from the house. The man is now illegally staying in the house, because the time which we gave him while trying to assist him, has expired," said Mashele. Mirror is also in possession of a letter from the office of the Director of Community Services, written by director Elias Mugari, which indicates that the man was given an offer of yet another temporary accommodation at the nearby Bungeni village. This offer was apparently not acceptable to Mr Matswanya.