Plight of orphaned Msholozi community

NELSPRUIT – Msholozi is located on the wrong side of the railway line. The illegal settlement is located next to Phumlani, an informal village, on the outskirts of White River near Rocky Drift.

The land, measuring about 244ha, was previously used by the army and belongs to the National Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport (DPWRT). It exists within Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) but is not technically its burden or responsibility.

“We cannot put infrastructure on land that does not belong to us,” explains Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for the municipality. “How will we recover our costs?”

According to him, town planning was performed in the area before the settlers moved in. Their numbers were estimated to stand at 3 000. He said the P166 road to White River was to be built there. “That road cannot be constructed because people have moved in where the road is supposed to be.”

As recently as two years ago there was only a handful of dwellings. Now there were about 1 000. On some plots there were no houses but the “owners” had erected one-roomed structures to claim them as theirs. Others were completed or were busy building tidy multi-roomed houses that looked as though they belonged in the suburbs. Some also lovingly tended their gardens.

The plots are larger than those typically found in informal settlements. They are also neatly demarcated and the houses boast numbers on the doors. The area is even divided into sections, with section managers. Yet, there are no title deeds. The plots belong to no one. The homes the settlers have built are not theirs.

It is not clear who is in charge of its organisation. According to the DA, “certain individuals” have moved in to exploit people’s needs by demarcating and selling stands and illegal water connections. There are also illicit electricity connections by which power is allegedly being stolen. In places, these lie in plain sight on the ground. At least two children have died from electric shocks due to these exposed power lines. “We just do what we have to, to live,” one resident explained to Lowvelder. “Do you have a job for me?”

Only minimal services are being provided to the community. “We are providing minimal services, and put water tanks there, since we are obliged to give people water disregarding the cost recovery,” say Ngala.

MLM has failed to have the land transferred from the DPWRT to its own jurisdiction. According to Mr Steven Schormann, DA councillor, the question was when did Mbombela intend to engage with the department? In response to written DA questions in March 2012 over the status of service delivery and ownership of the land, public works minister Mr Thulas Nxesi responded that the department was still waiting for the municipality to submit a formal request to transfer it.

According to the municipality, it first requested that the land be transferred to it in September 2006. Ngala also claimed that it was again requested as recently as May and again in August. At the time of going to print, he could not provide proof.

Schormann said regular service-delivery protests in Msholozi had increased. Yet, Ngala claimed that a survey conducted by the Department of Human Settlements in 2009, revealed that many of the residents owned property elsewhere. “Still, being landless and poor does not give you the right to invade land illegally.”