WATCH: Dann Road squatters refuse to move

NEGOTIATIONS turned sour on Wednesday morning when the owners and developers of the vacant land on Dann Road near Glen Balad Mall and squatters occupying the land could not reach an agreement.

Squatters were told it was time for them to find alternative places to live, or they would be forcefully removed from the property.

The land owners said they were ready to develop the property but the events which followed the heated exchange, left the property owners livid seeing that the residents did not budge. They eventually left.

The land owners, who are said to have tried evicting the squatters before, did not succeed. The squatters complained, saying they were being harassed. They claimed some of their belongings were set alight in previous attempts to kick them off the land.

On Wednesday, workers hired by the owners were ready with tools to demolish the structures. Members of the metro police were on site to prevent any violence.

According to information gathered at the scene, the squatters were only allowed to stay on the property temporarily, as they knew it was privately owned. However, more shacks had been erected in recent weeks, much to the annoyance of the owners. About 50 structures now stand on the property.

The squatters told EXPRESS among the many problems they faced, was the fact that they had no jobs and therefore could not move to other places where they would have to rent. Some of them said they came from far off places and had no relatives in Gauteng.

Thabiso Ginyigazi (31), who has been living on the property for nine years, is originally from the Eastern Cape and came to Gauteng looking for work.

“When I first started living here, it was a plot and there was a man who was sort of like the landlord who looked after the property for the owner,” Ginyigazi said.

Although uncertain about who the owner of the land is, the squatters said a man named Anthony had been to the camp several times before. Residents said most of the time Anthony came to the site under unpleasant circumstances.

“Anthony has been here about three times before and each time he would break down our shacks. The one time he also burned our belongings, including our IDs and clothes,,” 27-year-old Valencia Mogotsi, who has been living there for seven years, told EXPRESS.

According to a metro police officer present on Wednesday, the agreement was that only 15 shacks were allowed on the property. The owners of the property came to the site and told the squatters to move to the other side of the land, as they wanted to bring in machinery to start ground works.

The officer said the problem was that there were too many shacks on the site, which created a problem because there were too many squatters now looking for alternative shelters.

“They just keep on building shacks. Business owners nearby have also been complaining that the value of their businesses would be affected if the squatter camp kept on growing,” the officer said.

EXPRESS tried to speak to someone on the site believed to represent the owners, but he refused.