Mooibank residents want clarity on eviction notice

Concerned Mooibank residents have been left in the dark regarding their circumstances. In October last year, a new court order concerning illegal land occupants stated that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had to carry out the eviction before or by 31 January 2023.

“We still occupy the area and are concerned about what the future holds for us. It has become a matter of how much longer we can expect to stay here before we are moved,” community leader Charles Lekgetho said.

“We have been communicating with the mayor. To add to what he had previously said in our community meeting last year, it would not be fair to move us to another place without basic services like permanent toilet facilities and clean, accessible water,” he added.

During the meeting with the Mooibank residents in May 2022, the executive mayor, Gaba Ka Qhele said the municipality aimed to formalise the current informal settlement for residents by providing basic services before any eviction decision was made.

“Should the residents feel they want to move, our job is to pro-vide alternative places. However, I disagree with taking illegal residents and moving them to another informal settlement,” he said. According to Cindy du Plessis, the lawyer acting on behalf of the Potchefstroom South Property Owners Association, the newly-approved court application gave the Department for Rural Development approximately three months to implement the eviction.

In short, the residents had to be evicted by the end of January 2023. The reason for this was that the piece of land currently occupied by the squatters belongs to the department.

In a letter issued on 1 February 2023, the FF Plus demanded urgent answers about the relocation of the illegal land occupiers. This followed after the J.B. Marks municipality accepted a proposal during a council meeting on 31 January 2023 that the land occupiers should be moved to Klipdrift, about 20 km outside Potchefstroom.

In addition, according to the letter, Ka Qhele told the council the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform would be requested to apply for a pardon so that the court order, which states that the occupiers must leave the area by January 31, is only implemented later.

The letter further stated that the occupied land belonged to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, but the municipality also had a legal obligation to effect the relocation of the occupiers.

The letter added that the legal residents have already had to live with the violence, disruption and pollution as a result of the actions of the illegal occupiers since January 2021.

Acting municipal spokesperson, Jeanette Tshite says the matter regarding Mooibank residents had been before the High Court of South Africa (North West Division, Mahikeng) on October 27, 2022. “The application against both the JB Marks  Local Municipality as the 1st respondent and the Municipal Manager as the 2nd respondent were withdrawn from the matter by the applicant which in this case is Potchefstroom South  Property Owners Association,” she explained 

“The land that is occupied in Mooibank is owned by the National Government of the Republic  of South Africa (Department of Rural Development and Land Reform), therefore the municipality would not have any obligation nor plan on the land it does not own,” she concluded.