Land grabbers thrashed

Authorities descended on two separate sites on Friday morning to demolish structures and evict illegal land grabbers in the north of Pretoria.

December 12, 2014

Stephané Bothma 2 minutes read

Red Ants demolish structures illegally erected on the farm Bultfontien while police patrolled the area.

Structures erected by land grabbers on two separate sites in the north of Pretoria were razed to the ground on Friday when Tshwane authorities showed their muscle and proved their approach of zero tolerance towards the illegal invasion of land.

Violence erupted as the Red Ants, police and metro police descended on the two sites – on the farm Bultfontein and in Soshanguve Block Y – early in the morning to wipe out the structures erected, allegedly at the instigation of Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

While Tshwane used its earlier-obtained blanket interdict against the illegal invasion of several properties in the metro to evict land grabbers in Soshanguve, civil rights movement AfriForum last week obtained an urgent interdict to serve eviction papers on squatters on the farm Bultfontein.

“The land invasion unit started evicting the illegal occupants on Friday morning at 08h30 and will remain on site until the situation is stabilized,” Tshwane metro police spokesperson senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba said.

According to AfriForum security coordinator Tarien Cooks, the metro police, public order police unit and the Red Ants started breaking down an estimated 150 structures on Bultfontein shortly after 08h00.

“All the structures had been demolished when everybody had to withdraw from the scene as violence erupted and residents started pelting stones and rioting,” Cooks said, adding that although the structures had been built and roads had been scraped, the structures demolished had not yet been occupied.

Two people were arrested for public violence, she said, adding that the EFF was definitely behind the land invasion as a resident last week said that Malema would see AfriForum in court to fight the evictions.

Even after eviction orders had been served, the erection of structures and infrastructure continued, Cooks said, adding that AfriForum would monitor the situation on the farm. The residents have until 22 January to oppose the eviction order, but until then, they may not occupy the land.

Mahamba said that the metro police would be on alert and patrol other invasion hot spot areas.

“If the need arises, resource reinforcements will be allocated and sent to an area to control the situation. It is suspected that an instigator is influencing and misleading the community to commit these illegal acts,” he said. “The department will use a zero-tolerance approach in addressing this unacceptable behaviour.”