Illegal land invasion will be stopped
The Tshwane metro is attempting to lawfully close down the notorious Plastic View, but mushrooming squatter camps in other affluent areas and illegal land grabs force the city to deal with new problems daily.
The proliferation of illegal squatter camps and land grabs in the east of Pretoria will not be tolerated by the Tshwane metro, which is determined to continue with its demolition efforts and to create sustainable communities for all residents.
The metro has already earlier this year obtained a blanket High Court order, albeit an interim one, to prevent the illegal occupation of a number of council-owned properties and has since added the notorious so-called ‘Malemaville’ to the list.
“Land invasion is illegal and will not be tolerated, we will remove them,” said Leganong Matji, acting spokesperson for Tshwane mayor Kgosiento Ramokgopa.
However, while efforts by the metro to demolish the 1 000-resident Plastic View squatter camp are being hampered by illegal foreigners living there, the metro is set on razing the settlement in an orderly and lawful manner.
“We are working closely with the metro to reach an agreement on the way forward. We have great understanding for the problems facing the city regarding the lawful eviction of the Plastic View residents,” said Mariza Oelofse, the attorney representing four homeowners’ associations that had obtained a court order for the demolition of the eyesore situated among some of the city’s most affluent areas.
She said her clients had decided to work closely with the metro to assist in the orderly eviction of the squatters. Although Oelofse, from the firm Salomé le Roux Attorneys, could not give details, she confirmed that the metro was currently attempting to find a solution for the foreigners in Plastic View in conjunction with the home affairs department before eviction orders could be served.
While it appears that the eight-year saga of Plastic View would finally be sorted out in the near future, residents in close proximity were now facing similar problems with new squatter settlements mushrooming in the area. Some 400 squatters settled in a make-shift camp on the corner of Solomon Mahlangu Drive and Delmas Road, while close to the prestigious Woodhill Golf Estate, another illegal settlement consisting of some 350 shacks, known as ‘Cemetery View’, has blossomed almost overnight.
But, said Matji, it was the politically motivated spiraling land invasions that the metro was determined to deal with sternly at this stage.
Blaming Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party of misleading ordinary people and encouraging them to break the law, Matji said the attempt to occupy the portion of land known as Malemaville – between the N4 freeway and the old Bronkhorstspruit Road opposite Nellmapius – will be halted.
“Similar land invasions led by the EFF took place in Sokhulumi in Bronkhorstspruit and was happening now in Soshanguve Block Y,” she said.
To date, the metro had demolished more than 80 illegal structures in Malemaville and would continue with routine patrols and demolition efforts, Matji told Rekord.
The Malemaville land grab is being closely monitored not only by the metro, but also by residents and businesses in the area.
“We are on alert and the violence and anarchy which spilled over into the road had some of our tenants worried,” said N4 Gateway Light Industrial Park spokesperson Theuns Botha.
Botha however stressed they were in consultation and contact with the metro and the police to ensure the safety and security of tenants in the park, situated right next to Malemaville.
He added they were keen for the metro to implement its development plan for the land – a mixed use development that included residential and business premises – and could not understand the delay.
Management at the exclusive Silver Lakes Golf Estate was also monitoring events closely.
“There has been no effect on the Estate as Malemaville is quite a distance away and across the freeway from us,” said liaison manager Kathy O’Connor. “But we are watching developments with interest,” she said.
Matji described the spiraling land grabs as reprehensible and said it should be condemned in the strongest terms. “The consistent blockages of roads and destroying of infrastructure has caused a lot of anxiety and inconvenience to local businesses, motorists and surrounding neighbourhoods.”
She stressed that the actions in Malemaville could not be contextualised as service delivery protests, but instead as a deliberate intention of rendering the city ungovernable and undermining the current leadership. “Any rightful thinking person knows you cannot just set up house impromptu, how are we to build sustainable communities with economic opportunities when we defy planning processes and the law?”
Matji said the metro had been interacting with communities across Pretoria on issues of land restitution and was at the forefront of promoting security on tenure by relocating many beneficiaries to safe areas, issuing title deeds, rearranging cluttered settlement and formalising informal settlements.
“Land grabs are illegal and delaying development initiatives in our area,” she concluded.
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