Johannesburg -
EFF beware! Gauteng Premier David Makhura is watching you and ready to pounce on illegal land invaders.
This was the stern warning Makhura issued on Monday when addressing various national, provincial and local senior government officials about the need for his government and various municipalities to work hard and give people access to water and sanitation.
While Makhura’s speech was more on the need for the preservation of water and access to sanitation, the growing spread of illegal occupation of land was evidently bothering him - especially following the latest move in Diepsloot at the weekend.
He did not mention the EFF by name, but Makhura emphasised that his government would act harshly against anyone or group trying to illegally occupy Gauteng’s scarce land.
He stopped short of mentioning the type of action his government intended to take against them.
Makhura told the summit that all available land in Gauteng would be used to build “mega human settlements” close to economic nodes in the province.
He said each human settlement would have a minimum of 15 000 housing units.
“We need to build new cities to deal with unemployment and do away with poverty. We must stop building 100 RDP houses in one area and another 100 on another piece of land like a helicopter dropping pamphlets.
“In doing that, we are polluting the environment. We need new integrated communities, where the occupants don’t travel and spend a lot of money to get to work,” Makhura said, adding that the quality must be good.
With reference to the EFF, Makhura said: “We do not have enough land in Gauteng. Those who illegally occupy that land must be dealt with. Every piece of land must be for the new mega human settlement.”
The Star