Illegal land occupation on the rise, DA official says

There had been an upsurge in illegal land occupation, especially after the pronouncement of land expropriation without compensation in Parliament, City of Johannesburg member of the mayoral committee for public safety Michael Sun said on Wednesday.

Sun said there was very little municipalities could do as they had to adhere to the current legislation until it was amended.

He said the problem was not unique to the City of Johannesburg but was happening in all metros run by the DA. Tshwane, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay were encountering the same problem.

This weekend land invaders occupied land in Midrand, while residents in Tshwane also attempted to occupy land.

On the outskirts of the Johannesburg metro, close to Ennerdale in the south, residents in Kanana Park had taken over a vacant piece of land and started erecting structures last week.

The Johannesburg Metro Police had blocked off the entrance to one of the roads leading to the vacant land in question. The road was littered with rocks and garbage.

The residents claimed the land had been vacant for more than 10 years while they lived “like sardines”. They said they would continue fighting for this piece of land.

The residents said they could not wait for the motion recently tabled in Parliament, which looked at possible amendments to allow for land expropriation without compensation. Meanwhile, six property owners from Olievenhoutbosch in Tshwane filed an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria seeking to force the police to assist the property owners if structures were erected on occupied properties.