Durban - LAND invasions and expanding informal settlements are proving to be a thorn in the eThekwini Municipality’s side.
On Sunday, a possible land invasion was averted on a vacant plot alongside Link Road in Shallcross.
In addition, flat owners in a complex in Greenwood Park are fuming after shack dwellers built their homes against their boundary walls.
“There is a rapid rate of urbanisation, resulting in an acute shortage of affordable housing in eThekwini,” said municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela.
He was speaking after a recent inspection of the Enkanini informal settlement in Bonela.
Mayisela said there was a housing backlog that required billions of rand from the government to eradicate.
Mayisela said the initial count in 2017 gave an estimate of 269 informal houses in Enkanini.
He said this figure was now much higher.
“The land remains the property of the Department of Human Settlements in KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.
Department spokesperson Mbulelo Baloyi said their officials were not part of the inspection.
“The eThekwini Municipality is responsible for the tracking and documenting of all the inhabitants or dwellings in informal settlements in the metro.
“The area is still declared a Durban Metropolitan Open Space System.
“The land is ecologically sensitive, hence no housing development has been contemplated,” Baloyi said.
Shallcross ward councillor Previn Vedan said a group of about 50 people cleared and marked plots of land with plastic packets along Link Road.
He said community leaders prevented a land invasion.
“We found people clearing the area. We called them to a meeting and they left. No houses were built,” Vedan said.