The Gauteng government is set to enter negotiations with Alexandra property owners, where both sides would engage on property valuations and compensation terms.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi told property owners that he agrees that for the government to go ahead with its development plans in Alexandra, they must first buy the land from the original property owners who hold freehold title deeds.
These are the old Alexandra property owners whose land was expropriated by the apartheid government.
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The negotiations, which according to Lesufi would commence in about two weeks, are intended to ensure that both the government and the concerned people agree on acceptable arrangements.
Lesufi was speaking at Marlboro Community Centre on November 5, during a meeting with representatives of the Alexandra Property Owners’ Rights (APOR). The meeting was meant to provide property owners with feedback and outline the next steps in resolving long-standing land and property disputes in Alexandra.
The engagement followed years of frustration from property owners, who have raised concerns about unresolved compensation and the legal status of land ownership in the area.
“We need to take the negotiations with property owners to the next level,” Lesufi said. “We must agree on the path we must all take, and that path is to negotiate with property owners and settle compensation matters, but come to those negotiations open-minded.”
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Secretary of APOR, Ethel Mngomezulu, welcomed the premier’s commitment and confirmed that property owners had already calculated the value of their properties.
“We are waiting for the government to come up with its own valuation. If it does not correlate with ours, we will oppose it,” she said.
Mngomezulu added that compensation should also extend to former owners and families whose land was used for hostels and other developments.
She also raised concerns about informal structures built on privately owned land. “We warned people not to build on our property. We won’t pay them back. Those places are ours,” she said.
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