City reiterates zero tolerance on land invasions

THE eThekwini municipality says it has adopted a zero tolerance for land invasion and has been to a Chatsworth site 17 times in one week to stop invaders erecting dwellings.

This is according to the city’s response to The Mercury in connection with repeated attempts by land invaders to build on a municipal patch of land in Crossmoor, Chatsworth.

The city said the mushrooming of informal settlements in and around Durban put a strain on municipal services.

“Despite high court orders in some areas, more and more people are moving into these settlements. (The municipality) is committed to putting an end to this practice.”

Last week, Crossmoor residents woke up to a large group of people clearing a piece of municipal land by cutting and setting fire to the brush and demarcating it to build informal dwellings.

They ran off when the land invasion unit and Metro Police were called in but later, returned, spreading to a second piece of land. Residents said they had to keep watch to deter building.

The municipality said there was a housing backlog of 400 000 units.

“Ethekwini Municipality’s Land Invasion Unit is mandated to stop and discourage people who attempt to illegally occupy land identified for development for residents waiting for houses.

“This is in fairness to the majority of law abiding citizens who are patiently waiting to be allocated homes.

The municipality’s primary obligation is to protect and preserve land with the purpose of utilising it to unlock future development opportunities for our city,” the statement said.

Tony Govender, a resident of Crossmoor and a councillor in a neighbouring ward, said the community had had several meetings where street committees were formed to look out for invasions.

“We will be the eyes and ears of law enforcement. The community is not confrontational, we are leaving the removal of invaders to the relevant authorities, but we are keeping watch. It has calmed, but it’s a cat and mouse game.”

Sibusiso Khwela, councillor for ward 17 which includes Crossmoor, said he had met the community and praised them for being vigilant.

Protect

“I’m very glad about the way the community responded, it shows they are working with the government to protect government land and uphold the rule of law because they are the beneficiaries of service delivery.

“They didn’t just pick up the phone to alert authorities but they were hands-on cleaning up what was left by those invading the land,” he said.

Khwela said the invaders were from two neighbouring wards.

“I met about 80 of them. I told them we don’t have informal settlements here because we have housing and we have mechanisms in place, we have a housing database where people are registered.

None of them are on my database so I told them to speak to their councillor to assist.”

Land invasions can be reported to the Security Management Unit on 031 311 4699 or 079 821 8879, or the Land Invasion Unit on 031 311 4220/ 4083, or call 031 3114702/ 4667/ 4669/ 4701 after hours.

A public meeting to discuss land invasions was to be held in Chatsworth last night, and deputy mayor Fawzia Peer was expected to attend.