Johannesburg -
The battle between the City of Tshwane and land invaders continues, with the council now turning to court to evict the latest land grabbers.
Tshwane’s acting mayoral spokeswoman, Lebogang Matji, said the municipality was in the process of applying for an eviction order against the illegal occupants of the land.
The growth of the new Nkandla settlement coincided with the trend to occupy land illegally that has intensified in the area in recent weeks.
Subsequently, law enforcement agencies had numerous clashes with illegal land occupants during evictions at the Malemaville informal settlement in Nellmapius as well as Dali Mpofu View in Soshanguve Block Y and Sokhulumi near Bronkhorstspruit.
Commenting on Nkandla, Matji said: “Our stance on illegal land occupation has not changed, and people cannot just occupy pieces of land as and when they desire.
“This behaviour is unbecoming and cannot be condoned. It further brings up a whole lot of service delivery problems, as these informal settlements that are being established were not planned for, with no provisions for basic services.”
The informal settlement has been named Nkandla by its occupants, after President Jacob Zuma’s grand KwaZulu-Natal homestead.
Neighbours said it had been growing unabated over the past six months.
Several foundation structures have been put up, indicating that more shacks are on the verge of being constructed.
The land has been strategically allocated to leave walkways between the rows of shacks.
Residents in the vicinity of the Nkandla settlement said they had watched helplessly while the informal settlement grew over recent weeks, with no action from the authorities.
While there is no problem with people getting land on which to stay, open fields should be preserved and developed into parks – the purpose for which they had been reserved over the years - according to the neighbours.
Matji said the Mamelodi land belonged to the City of Tshwane and had been earmarked for a residential development.
But communities in the area objected to that plan and insisted they wanted it to be developed into a park instead, he added.
“It is ironic that the very same people who initially objected vehemently to the development of the land for residential purposes and favoured its reservation and transformation into a community park are now alleged to be occupying it without permission,” Matji said.
- The Star