Thousands of Wesselton residents can get land after provincial government conducts land audit
According to the South African Communist Party (SACP), land has been made available with more than 70 000 stands allocated to the public in government land Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM).
The controversial land distribution issue on local, provincial and national level, compelled the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Gert Sibande District to join the clamour for stands.
According to them, land has been made available with more than 70 000 stands allocated to the public on government land in the district.
Msukaligwa Municipality has been allocated more than 35 000 of those sites.
Also read: Controversial houses go up in Wesselton Ext 7
The party also compiled a list of people to occupy the land and according to them, the community of Msukaligwa will be able to move in as soon as they are given the go-ahead.
Residents participated in protest action for equal land distribution in the form of marches in and around the municipality.
Led by the SACP, residents of informal settlements, KwaBhubhesini and Ethembeni just to name a few, walked to the municipal offices and GSDM in the past few months.
A protest took a turn for the worst in February, when stragglers refused to leave the GSDM premises, resulting in police shooting rubber bullets at them.
Msukaligwa has also been at the receiving end of land invasions with residents invading municipal land, erecting poles to mark their stands.
A controversial piece of land that had seen many invasions is Ext 7 in Wesselton, resulted in the municipality taking the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to court and winning, after they called for an invasion in May.
The SACP also called for the community to take over the land in March and once again, the public heeded the call.
The municipality deemed the exercise illegal and sent out a warning that such exercises have dire consequences.
The Department of Human Settlements could not confirm whether the land is available at the time of going to print.
However, if true, the community of Msukaligwa will benefit largely with Wesselton containing the biggest number of land sites altogether.
Middle-class earners will not be left out in the cold after the municipality issued a notice saying it intends to sell residential ervens situated in Ext 7.
The municipality confirmed it received more than a 1 000 applications for 296 ervens and potential buyers were selected through a meticulous process with community leaders as observers.
“The selected potential buyers were informed via telephone to come and collect an offer to purchase and to respond within 90 days whether they accept the offer, as well as terms and conditions of sales,” municipal spokesman, Mr Mandla Zwane, said.
As of now, only 10 per cent have responded and accepted the offer.
A process the SACP does not want.
“The SACP is against the selling of land and does not recognize the middle-class group,” Mr Mzwandile Zulu, regional leader, said.
“Everybody is equal before the constitution and should be treated equally.
“Where is the money for the sale of those sites going?”
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