Land invasion hype will create overpopulation

The incitement of people to occupy urban land will not help things,

writes Oupa Mangena

Johannesburg is seen as an economic hub of South Africa, a place where people from all walks of life descend upon to look for job opportunities. There has been many incidents of people occupying land by force.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says: “If you see it and you like it, occupy it.” And it seems like people are really doing that.

But the EFF is not a big fish: the big fish is the ANC.

The Citizen has reported about the eviction of Jerusalem “dwellers by force”.

There’s a rumour that says the invaded land in Jerusalem is allocated to ANC and EFF supporters and that ANC supporters are bribed R700–R1 000 to occupy it.

Can this be a plan by the ANC to discredit municipalities run by the DA?

When the issue of land invasion started, I said to a fellow that government must not allow people to invade land by force because that’s going to incite more people from rural areas to come to Joburg with the mere aim of illegally invading land.

I said this was going to lead to Johannesburg being overpopulated because it’s perceived as a city of gold which brings success to people.

And yesterday, my input was vindicated by a friend of mine from Tzaneen, Limpopo.

He said to me he went to Jerusalem and placed a piece of land for his relative so that he can come and look for a job in Johannesburg.

Which jobs in Johannesburg?