Association members want to occupy their land
The members have been waiting to build their homes since 2005.
Putfontein Association seeks assistance from the government with infrastructure and subsidy for qualified individuals and free-standing land.
This follows as the association’s members anticipate occupying the land they have acquired at 392 Withok Estate near Geluksdal Extension Three in 2017.
They acquired the land after they were bought out by the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) in Putfontein, where they owned 18 hectares of land.
They used the funds they received from the CoE to buy 42.8 hectares of land at 392 Withok Estate, but the association still owns five hectares of land in Putfontein.
The members have been waiting to build their homes since 2005 when the association acquired a piece of land 2005 in Mayfield before they acquired Withok Estate.
Putfontein Association recently held a meeting with its members to introduce quantity and land surveyors as they look to initiate the process of cutting stands and providing title deeds for members.
According to the chairperson of the Putfontein Association, Solly Sibiya, the association has been pressured by members who have been waiting for their land for years.
He said members were proposing to erect shacks because government processes are slow.
“Today we invited professionals to share information with our members about steps that have to be followed when we want to occupy land,” said Sibiya.
“This is a process we had started as we engaged with the CoE because the processes of government take time and they require a budget, but the CoE and the province is willing to help us. However, our people say they are tired of waiting.
“We brought a land surveyor so we can cut stands and push the processes of government so people can receive title deeds individually because we have one title deed as Putfontein Association.”
Sibiya said they preferred to buy land instead of waiting for RDP houses, hoping the government would assist them with developments.
“The government can invite us for engagements. We have engaged with the human settlement department and Estates Ekurhuleni, we are just waiting for things to be finalised,” said Sibiya.
“We know the government says there are serviced stands where they can help people and we know the government has a shortage of land, so we want to ease the burden of sourcing land on government by inviting them for engagements.
“We are also prepared to assist the government by adopting some of the people from informal settlements, especially those from Mkhancwa informal settlements near Ergo Road.
“We have 42.8 hectares of land and we are not charging them, all we want is for government to assist us with infrastructure.”
The association previously owned 18 hectares of land at Putfontein in their partnership with the CoE.
“People were relocated from Babsfontein informal settlements to Putfontein next to our land and surrounding areas.
“CoE approached us to accommodate them in our project as we had a memorandum of understanding of a public-private relationship with the municipality,” said Sibiya.
One of the beneficiaries, Sandisiwe Tloti, who attended the meeting on behalf of her mother, said they bought the land a long time ago and it has been an ongoing process.
“It seems like there are developments and there is a way forward. Although many things have happened, we were supposed to be in Putfontein but now were are here,” said Tloti.
