Illegal land grabbers come head to head with AfriForum on Vryheid farm
Several poles had been planted and fences were being erected on the farm in question
LAND… it seems to be the new four-letter-word of South Africa, the word that has come to stir up temperatures and temperaments wherever it pops up, it would appear.
Without any understanding on the land issue, there are many who seem to think that the radical instruction, “People of South Africa, where you see a beautiful land, take it, it belongs to you…” from EFF leader, Julius Malema, actually carries any weight in the eyes of the law… or even common sense or basic logic.
Those who believe that these things only happen in other parts of the country may be shocked to realise that, even in Vryheid, right under our noses, land invasion is taking place.
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Human rights watchdog, AfriForum, an organisation that does not shy away from facing challenges head on, recently took action when it came to their attention that a land grab was taking place on a farm along the Melmoth road.
On June 22, they responded to a tip off that several poles had been planted and fences were being erected on the farm in question. In one instance, a foundation had already been dug and was ready to be laid.
“It was clear that people were at the point of starting to erect buildings on this farm,” stated AfriForum Vryheid’s Chairman, Andrè van der Walt.
“We contacted the police and made an appointment for Saturday morning – Afriforum Safety was going to tear everything down and we needed the police to prevent any clash with the illegal farm invaders…”
On Saturday morning, they went out to the farm, collected the owner of the land and proceeded to tear down the illegal fences and poles. While this operation was underway, the illegal land grabbers arrived, at the same time as the police, and claimed that they had bought the land.
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“This was not true,” added Van der Walt. “The land owner was with us…”
“Between the police, Afriforum, the land owner and the invaders, an agreement was reached that they would stop invading until such time as finality is reached with the owner about purchasing the land.”
“We feel that Afriforum made a very clear statement that farm invading will not be tolerated! We will be engaging in similar actions in future, should it be necessary.”
