Johannesburg - The Gauteng human settlements department on Sunday condemned the recent spate of illegal land invasions that have occurred in Frankenworld, near Marlboro and Syferfontein.
The department is in the process of finalising the acquisition of Frankenworld land with Wits, and this land is earmarked for development for the people of Alexandra township, the department said in a statement.
"The Gauteng government is against land invasion and it condemns it in the strongest possible terms. This government will not tolerate anarchy and it will not be allowed to prevail from any part of society," deputy director general for human settlements Keith Khoza said on behalf of the department.
The human settlements department in Gauteng was currently in the process of putting in bulk services in Syferfontein and the land invasion was disrupting this process. People who invaded land were against development and the department believed these acts were "calculated to sabotage and derail our programmes of responding to the poorest of the poor who need shelter as a right", Khoza said.
Land invasions were a major setback to service delivery and the development of poor communities. Such selfish actions were equal to robbing people who had been waiting for houses since 1996; an opportunity to own a house.
The department would not tolerate such counter development behaviour which undermined development and progress of services delivery. These were "the tactics of trying to postpone the benefits that are due to people who are most deserving and who have been waiting patiently for houses because they understand that their turn will come", Khoza said.