Boven worried about illegal land grabbers

WATERVAL BOVEN – More than

100 illegal land grabbers descended on an open piece of land last week, each claiming a part for themselves. Residents could just watch as the group measured out small stands on the 1 200-square-metre area, marking them with tape.

An irate business owner, who also serves on the ratepayers’ association, said she was informed that the people were encouraged to take this step because the eMakazeni Municipality did not make good on its promises of providing housing to residents.

“First we thought it was members of the Economic Freedom Fighters, but we were later informed that most of them were ANC members,” she said. When Lowvelder visited the site last week, the clearly marked stands were deserted and no construction of informal housing was visible.

The local municipal office could not provide more information and the eMakhazeni Municipal offices in Belfast also did not want to comment on the issue. Lowvelder was however informed that the mayor had been asked to visit the town, but due to the high cost of toll-gate fees, he did not pitch.

Talks of developing the area started a while ago, but the rocky terrain made it difficult for infrastructure development such as sewerage systems and the process was placed on hold.

AfriForum held a conference two weeks ago where it released a new guide on land grabbing and urged communities to protect themselves against the practice as the state could not be relied on to do so.

The head of AfriForum’s community safety division, Mr Ian Cameron, said it was important to react appropriately when land grabs happened, but it was even more important to be proactive and take precautionary measures in order to prevent it from happening. According to him, these matters had to be addressed by the courts in civil-suit cases. When illegals knowingly settle on private property, the structures can be demolished once a case of trespassing had been opened at the police. In the case of public property, a member of the public was not allowed to break down any structure. A case had to be opened with the police and the matter reported to the municipality. Any municipality that ignored its responsibility to act, could be dealt with harshly. AfriForum said crime-watch groups and regular patrols could play an important role to deter land grabbers from moving into an area. Last year a similar incident happened in Thaba Chweu Municipality, on the outskirts of Mashishing. Today more than 1 000 shacks have been erected in the area.

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