WATCH: Growing squatter camp causes concern

Some residents maintain the area is a haven for criminals.

February 2, 2017

2 minutes read

Dagga plants grow in abundance around the shacks of the informal settlement near Location Road. Brakpan ward councillor Brandon Pretorius (right) is seen with concerned Brakpan resident Shaun Klinkenberg during a visit to the site on Tuesday morning.

Brakpan residents have expressed fear that a community of squatters occupying land next to Location Road will eventually flourish into another Plastic City.

While not visible from the street, the illegally occupied land near Brakpan North is lined with shacks.

It is not known how many people live in the settlement, but it has definitely grown in size since its first occupants took up residence about two or three years ago.

Ward councillor for the area Brandon Pretorius visited the site on Tuesday morning, accompanied by journalists from the Herald and an official from the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department.

The group was escorted by two Brakpan residents who are familiar with the settlement.

Pretorius told the Herald he has received numerous complaints from locals about the squatters.

“The squatter camp is in close proximity to schools in the area and there are concerns about the children’s safety, especially those who walk past here to and from school,” he said.

“It’s growing in size and I wanted a first-hand look.”

Some residents maintain the area is a haven for criminals and claim that stolen goods were recently found at the site.

Shaun Klinkenberg, one of the residents who led the group into the settlement, believes the squatters are negatively impacting on the property value of houses in the area.

It has also been alleged that the squatters are responsible for the destruction of the former premises of a local primary school, in Livingstone Avenue.

The property has been completely stripped of anything of value.

Other than dagga plants growing in abundance around the shacks, and the fact that the occupation of the land is illegal, nothing unlawful or suspicious was spotted by the Herald during the visit.

It was evident, however, that the residents are recycling plastic, like their counterparts in the infamous Plastic City.

Men were spotted pulling their home-made trolleys, heaped with plastic bottles and other recyclable waste, along narrow paths through the veld.

Other residents were seen sorting through mounds of collected rubbish.

One man was tending to a vegetable garden and told the group he was planting potatoes.

He said he wasn’t a criminal, just ‘arm’ (poor).

According to Pretorius, the Ekurhuleni Metro does not recognise the site as an informal settlement.