Massive legal war looms over squatters
Yet another court challenge about the relocation of residents of Plastic View is on the cards as the metro battles to get them off the land currently occupied.
The Tshwane metro will no longer entertain the “selfish interests” in legal arguments against the relocation of Woodlane Village – commonly referred to as Plastic View – and will pursue the full court route to rid the area of squatters.
This after it became clear that, despite years of negotiations and a willingness on the part of the municipality to compromise, a settlement with the lawyers representing the squatters was now unlikely.
Tshwane mayoral spokesperson Blessing Manale this week said the metro was determined to relocate the estimated 3 000 people who had illegally settled on the land, valued at about R400 million.
For more than 10 years, the municipality had persistently tried to solve the problem of the illegal occupation of the land, situated on a portion of the farm Garstfontein along De Villebois Marueil Drive in the upmarket east of the capital.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) however, acting on behalf of the squatters, has to date blocked every attempt.
When squatters initially settled there, the metro obtained a court order that authorised it to demolish all structures on the land and remove the residents, but an LHR challenge had resulted in the municipality being forced to rebuild all demolished shacks.
Since then, several solutions by the municipality had been challenged in court.
In the latest challenge, heard early last year, an eleventh-hour court bid by LHR halted the auction of the land for development despite an undertaking by the metro that suitable alternative housing would be provided for squatters.
The squatter camp, home to a large number of illegal foreign nationals and comprising some 1 000 shacks, has mushroomed next to some of the most valuable land in Pretoria, bordering the multi-million rand Woodlands Boulevard shopping centre and the upmarket Woodhill Golf and Mooikloof estates.
“To demonstrate our good intentions we have proposed, in the case of Woodlands/Plastic View, alternative township development at a land parcel outside the Garstfontein node and yet we have public law interest groups still inciting our communities to take us to court to halt the auction (of the land),” Manale said.
“We have no alternative but to argue that the interest of public services and our responsibility to deploy the best land use principles for the long-term financial needs for the city, outdo the selfish interest of the plastic view legal argument. “We are currently going the full court route as a settlement agreement with LHR is now wholly unlikely.”
Manale said the land on which the camp was situated as well as an adjacent property, were mega-size land parcels with varying spatial development potential.
Developers who spoke to Rekord last week, said the land was extremely valuable and perfect for development. “But as long as there are illegal residents on the property, nobody will touch it,” they said.
“The value of housing development in Tshwane alone is estimated at R360 billion in the next 15 years,” said Manale.
He stressed that the process of relocation and alternative accommodation had not been concluded but the city remained committed to relocate the residents within close proximity to the existing settlement.
In April, the metro announced that one-room pre-fabricated housing, known as Transitional Residential Units (TRUs), had been procured to house residents of Plastic View.
Illegal foreign nationals by law do not qualify for housing supplied by the government. This was another issue that was stalling the relocation of the squatters as the home affairs department was involved regarding the foreigners.
Manale this week said the bulk of residents, who did not qualify for relocation or the supply of housing units, were not happy with the temporary solution of TRUs as proposed by the metro.
“Those who do not qualify for housing ultimately want to know what their fate will be and as the city, we cannot agree to provide housing for those who do not qualify, as this will require a change to the Housing Code,” said Manale.
Also read:
Housing units for Plastic View
Plastic View move to Garsfontein on cards
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