Pretoria - Residents of Nellmapius Extension 1 are demanding that vacant land in the area be used for sustainable activities or recreational facilities to benefit unemployed youths. To demonstrate this, they took matters into their hands and shut down a small brick company operating on vacant land.
According to resident and community leader Augustine Daniels, the community has for years been applying to have the land used for farming projects, a community hall or any other recreational facility. Instead, he said they were surprised to see trucks coming to offload sand and builders’ mix and immediately started working on creating bricks.
Daniels said they were informed by people on the scene that they had bought the land for business use, something which they were surprised about, considering no auction or mention was made of the property being on sale.
“Unlike other parts of Nellmapius we don’t have any facilities for our youth, and our greatest concern is the rampant drug abuse that takes place. Every time our children try to use facilities in other extensions fights often tend to break out. We are surprised that this person showed up here and started working, and yet they have no paperwork to show the community when and who gave them the green light on this piece of land.”
Daniels said following an agreement with the police and the company, it was decided that work should cease until adequate proof was brought to the community. And despite the community holding meetings requesting they be shown proof of purchase, nothing has been forthcoming.
“The community decided it was going to stop operations, because we can’t let people come into this place without any consultation with councillors, or the community and its leaders whilst they have a genuine need for our youths.” Following the protest, Daniels said the workers were yet to return to the site, but they would still be launching a petition to find out what exactly happened.
Another resident, Rochae Mc Mafter, said they suspected corruption was at play, because a church had previously attempted to acquire the land, and most recently a community group. Both were turned down.
“The councillor told us there were too many churches around, but when the community applied we were told there was no space. There’s always an excuse for good projects, but things like a diesel depot or rooms, nothing is said.
Pretoria News