Court interdict stops 2 Glen Austin illegal land grabs in 2 different areas
Glen Austin Residents Association chairperson John Mphatsoe urged community members to report any illegal land grabs immediately for a swift response.
The Glen Austin Residents Association (Gara) chairperson, John Mphatsoe, said the suburb has been a target of land grabs recently.
Mphatsoe said that, despite a standing court interdict preventing land invasion in the area, they have attended two land grabs in a space of a week.
Speaking to the paper on May 30, Mphatsoe said that, as the community, they managed to remove squatters who had already settled on the corner of Douglas and Old Pretoria roads.
“As a community, we went there and removed them with the court interdict we have. Funnily enough, some of them went back to Thembisa, where they originally came from. When we wanted to assist them in going to the shelters, they said didn’t need to go to the shelters, but look what they are doing to our suburb.”
Mphatsoe said another attempted land grab almost occurred on Dale Road on May 28, but authorities came to remove the land grabbers. He said JMPD assisted in removing them, using the same interdict. “These ones, after they were removed, they tried to come back again the following day, but JMPD and other law enforcement agencies managed to remove them again.”
He said Gara was concerned with these attempts to invade open land in the suburb, but had hope in the court interdict against such attempts. He urged community members to report any illegal land invasion, saying that community members needed to remain vigilant, as prompt reporting leads to swift removal.
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JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla confirmed that they assisted the association on two occasions. “Yes, our officers, from the by-law management unit, demolished illegal structures in Glen Austin. We urge people not to erect structures in places, or on roads or streets, without obtaining permission from the municipality. It is illegal.”
Fihla concluded that there was a dire need to remove illegal land grabbers in the entire Midrand area.
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