Bloem residents fed up with Lourierpark land-grabbers
A violent stand-off between residents and shack dwellers who invaded a field outside Bloemfontein starkly underlines the politics behind the housing crisis ahead of May’s general election.
On the north side of Curie Avenue, new arrivals are setting up a shanty town of corrugated iron shacks stretching almost four kilometres from the city limit to the farmlands beyond.
On the south side of the road, the residents of Lourierpark, a community of privately owned homes, are protesting against the interlopers and clashing with police trying to keep the sides apart.
On Tuesday, a barricade of burnt tyres separated police and residents armed with wooden stakes. Teargas hung in the air.
A recent court ruling ordered
the municipality to stop new shacks being erected on the invaded land but on Wednesday, building was continuing and more than 2 000 people were queueing to register their interest in plots to build their own
homes. Yesterday, the Red Ant Security Relocation & Eviction Services were in full swing tearing structures down.
For established residents like Tshegofatso Tshabalala, 38, the issue is clear. She and her neighbours took out loans to buy their homes. They pay taxes and water bills, while the land-grabbers bring only crime and insecurity.
Members of the self-appointed night patrol, some of whom were later arrested, manned the barricade. They alleged that land-grabbers have sexually harassed local girls, hijacked electricity and broken water pipes. They also said local property prices would fall.
The community also suspects a political motive. Lourierpark is part of a council ward represented by the Democratic Alliance and they accuse the ruling ANC of flooding the district with its supporters under the guise of rehousing them.
Those seeking a new start in the shacks don’t see it that way. Felicia Legetla, 31, is pregnant and desperately wants to move out of her grandmother’s house.
She hoped the city authorises the new homes, but said she was not an ANC stooge and was critical of the decisions that led to the crisis, saying: “They were given a budget for informal settlement. The money was returned. They should’ve made a plan last year.”
On the occupied land, hundreds waited to sign a list organised by SA National Civics Organisation. Its representative, Teboho Thabane, said they would present the names to the municipality to prevent a free-for-all land grab.
ANC mayor Gregory Nthatisi said reversing the seizure of the field would not be easy, despite the court order. “We are dealing with people coming from a very difficult situation,” he said. –