Land grabs spiraling north of Pretoria
Everything possible will be done to stop the illegal land invasion at two separate areas north of the city – allegedly an attempt to make the city ungovernable and to undermine current leadership.
Two areas north of Pretoria have now been targeted by land grabbers – allegedly supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – but authorities and a civil rights organisation are determined to stop them in their tracks.
An urgent interim interdict obtained by the civil rights organization AfriForum will see several EFF supporters, who had started squatting on the farm Bultfontein evicted by Tuesday afternoon.
At the same time, Tshwane said that it would take action against EFF supporters who had now started invading land in Soshanguve Block Y.
“The court order to remove the illegal squatters and structures (at Bultfontein) was granted last Thursday, but the Wonderboom Sheriff had refused to serve the order on the squatters,” said AfriForum security coordinator Tarien Cooks said.
Her organization secured an urgent order in the North Gauteng High Court which gave AfriForum’s legal representative, Tertius Kruger, the power to act as sheriff to ensure that the court order was being adhered to.
While serving the court order on the illegal squatters, some of the EFF members told Kruger that they would not move from the premises and that their leader, Julius Malema would fight AfriForum in court.
Cooks said her organisation took on the matter of the illegal settlement to protect property rights.
The matter will be before court again on 22 January next year when the court would decide if the order should be made permanent.
In the Soshanguve land grab, acting Tshwane mayoral spokesperson Lebogang Matji said the spiraling land invasions were without a doubt politically motivated. “The EFF is busy misleading people and encouraging them to break the law,” she said.
“The EFF members have unashamedly mobilised innocent people to break the law by illegally occupying land.”
Matji said the EFF was attempting to undermine the metro’s efforts to build sustainable communities and she advised the occupants who had illegally settled on the land to vacate peacefully.
“Land invasion is illegal and will not be tolerated,” she said, adding that 20 shacks had been demolished by the metro in Block Y Soshanguve to date. Routine patrols of the areas and demolition efforts would continue.
Matji said the actions by the land grabbers could not be contextualised as service delivery protests, but a deliberate intention of rendering the city ungovernable and undermining the current leadership.
“Any rightful thinking person knows that 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.”
She said land invasions divided communities and delayed development initiatives in the areas concerned.
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