Pretoria – Land grabs and subsequent evictions escalated on an unprecedented scale in the capital this year. The outbreak of illegal land grabs became so severe that the city monitored all hot spots closely throughout the year.
Sporadic land grabs were reported in 2014 and 2015, but these seemed to escalate this year – and the blame was laid squarely at the feet of EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema.
This followed his utterances during the party’s elective conference in Bloemfontein in 2014, where he told his supporters to occupy land.
“We are going to occupy the unoccupied land because we need the land. For us to eat, we must have the land. For us to work, we must have the land,” he said at the time.
EFF supporters across the capital heeded this call, fuelling land grabs in Soshanguve, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Ga-Rankuwa and Hammanskraal.
Protests erupted in Hammanskraal in February after residents in Kanana Extension 3 invaded land, allegedly earmarked for RDP development, culminating in the death of two security guards.
Afterwards, the government announced plans to build houses in the area. The slow pace of delivering on housing needs and allegations of stands being sold were named as some of the root causes of the increased land grabs in townships.
This started under ANC rule, long before the DA and Solly Msimanga took control of the city in the August elections.
Residents in Mamelodi East also invaded Plot 44 in Pienaarspoort in April, saying they were tired of waiting for the city to give them land.
At the time, community representative Martin Matlala said they would not be deterred from invading land despite having been forcefully removed from the site by Tshwane Metro Police Department officers 15 times in the past three years.
“The city is always slow to deliver, so we won’t wait for provision of water or toilets; hence we decided to make plans on our own. The most important thing for us now is to have places to live in. Things like electricity will be dealt with later,” he said.
Matlala said close to 5000 community members needed land, and he was trying to co-ordinate everything to prevent chaos.
However, residents who invaded vacant land in Soshanguve Block MM on November 20 debunked reports that they were spurred on by Malema’s calls for land grabs.
They said land occupied by residents in other areas had successfully been formalised after they invaded it. They wanted to do the same.
In Soshanguve, Samuel Tshabalala said community leaders in the area had been in discussions since 2006 with former Roads and Transport MMC George Matjila and erstwhile city mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa for land to be given to the community's backyard and shack dwellers. Both are ANC politicians and regional leaders.
He said they were in the final stages of land allocation before the municipal elections on August 3. Tshabalala said the change of leadership within municipalities stalled the allocation process.
Despite the change in leadership, he believed that the 300 community residents were entitled to the land as they had waited long enough and went through all processes.
Tshabalala said with this latest eviction, they had decided to appoint Lawyers for Human Rights to take their matter to court.
The 185 land grabbers who invaded the Elandsfontein vacant land in Brazzaville, Atteridgeville, were similarly evicted. They said they were unwilling to pay local councillors the fee of R8500 they wanted for stands and decided to take the land forcefully.
EFF community leader Zakes Sehlapelo said they had decided to support the community’s bid to invade land after numerous residents complained to the EFF about having to pay exorbitant amounts to councillors before being given land.
Sehlapelo and other EFF representatives said during a separate meeting with the community they had taken down the names of more than 5000 people in the area who were in need of land.
After their eviction in November 7, the EFF in Ward 107 in Atteridgeville opened a case of malicious damage to property and theft against officers who confiscated building material.
Despite the increased calls for provision of land, the city remained adamant that it would not be bullied into providing land and that it had taken a no-nonsense approach and would remove all illegal land grabbers. The cat and mouse scenario between land occupants and the city is expected to continue into the new year.