Land grabs on the rise

MIDVAAL: ILLEGAL VENDORS SELLING PLOTS TO DESPERATE PEOPLE

Different groups laying claim to unused swathes of farm land.

On an abandoned farm south of Johannesburg, hammers bashing nails into corrugated iron, brooms sweeping away dust and a faint chatter of voices can be heard on a nearby road.

It’s the sound of dozens of shacks being hastily built in the Walkerville town of the Midvaal, a semirural farming area, where growing demand for land and housing is fuelling a wave of similar occupations.

“We’re here to build ourselves a new home and a new life,” said Tantaswa, 37, who did not want her real name used.

Tantaswa said she bought the plot and building materials for R2 800 on Facebook, but did not receive a title deed or know anything about the seller, or the owner of the unoccupied property.

“It’s a risk to build here, but we have to take it because we’re suffering in the nearby township,” she said outside the recently erected shack.

The land was previously occupied by now deceased farmer Richard Makhetha, who invested in its upkeep, and his widow said she was seeking advice from the department of agriculture on what to do about the occupations.

In June, Walkerville become a hotspot for land occupations on unused private property, led by a group of local men calling themselves The Big Six.

Elsewhere, land occupations gathered pace during the coronavirus lockdown, often ending in shack demolitions or evictions by authorities despite a directive that municipalities must suspend evictions during the pandemic.

Housing rights campaigners said many poor renters have been unable to work and pay rent and affordable housing was in short supply.

But Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi said the occupations were

“not about housing issues, this is about criminality”, referring to groups such as The Big Six or the Facebook land sellers. “For me this is a simple legal issue. The law says we must protect private property and that is what we will continue to do.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a drive in 2018 to change the constitution to make explicit provision for the redistribution of land without payment to address inequality.

According to the most recent census figures, at least 2.9 million to 3.6 million people live in informal settlements, although experts say the real number is likely much higher.

People like Tantaswa say they are tired of waiting decades for government-assisted housing.

“We struggle with space, electricity and safety in the Orange Farm township where we live,” said Tantaswa, who hopes the new settlement taking shape will be less crowded and safer.

Alongside her new home, other shacks are being assembled, many with names spray-painted on the corrugated iron walls, reserving them for the coming weeks when the four rudimentary walls will be finished off with roofs – and inhabitants. Lethu Masoka, one of the leaders of The Big Six group, said they were not land-grabbers, but people “willing to buy empty land and use it for housing”. During their last occupation, in Elandsfontein suburb in Midvaal, the municipality got a court interdict and removed the occupiers with the help of the police.

Masoka said the group had taken R250 “donations” from hundreds of people who took part in the occupation, using the money to cover the cost of security, petrol and the demarcation of future plots on various private farms.

“We want to negotiate with property owners and government. This land is not being used, we want to buy this land for farming and housing,” Masoka said.

Property owners reported being assaulted and threatened by the occupiers during the June invasion. Walkerville property owner and member of parliament Dennis Ryder said that despite his frustrations with the occupations, he believed many of the occupiers were “desperate” people being exploited by illegal land vendors.

He said there were no quick fixes for Midvaal’s land issues.

“Everywhere you scratch, it becomes more complex. It’s like the Wild West out here,” he said from his home where he moved 20 years ago for the quiet, open land, extensive enough to raise horses.

Midvaal, about 50km from Johannesburg, is the subject of a 1995 land claim by the Bakwena Ba Mare a Phogole community, which says the area is their ancestral land from which they were forced during colonial times.

Its claim was announced to the public in 2016 by the Land Claims Commission, according to its website.

But Hanif Manjoo, a founder of the indigenous Khoisan Unity Movement, said Midvaal was also home to ancient Khoisan artefacts. “According to our beliefs, the land does not belong to us, we belong to the land,” Manjoo said.

He hoped a consensus was possible between the different communities in the area.

When Ryder bought his property two decades ago, he could not see it becoming a flashpoint for tensions over land. But today competing claims over Midvaal mean residents who want to sell or renovate properties “do so at their own risk” he said, as property values and ownership could be challenged at any point.

“One thing is certain, when your land is threatened, it gets to people’s emotions.” –

When your land is threatened, it gets to

people’s emotions