RDP houses gutted in land grab attempt
A GROUP of disgruntled protesters set three RDP houses alight and damaged several others as they battled to occupy an open field in Kagiso near Krugersdorp.
Gauteng police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubela said the group began their protest yesterday morning. This was after the Red Ants had evicted them from a piece of land near Leratong Hospital that they had tried to occupy.
He said residents then started damaging about 100 nearby RDP houses. “The group broke the windows of many of the houses and burnt down three of them,” said Makhubela, adding that no injuries were reported and that no arrests had been made.
Meanwhile, the Mogale City municipality said although they understood that residents were in need of housing, they condemned the lands grabs and said it would not be tolerated.
“The spate of land grabs currently taking place does not fall within this framework and will not be tolerated by the municipality,” recently elected executive mayor Lynn Pannall said in a statement.
She said land invasions had negative implications for the municipality and also derailed intended housing delivery programmes. Pannall urged residents to stay away from “impermissible acts of illegal land occupation”.
She urged the community to report anyone who does so. “We also warn those who are bent on contravention of the law that the municipality cannot waive its rights and will exercise its rights to protect public property.”
Pannall noted that housing was one of the municipality’s priorities, but stressed it was done in a systematic manner.
“We will communicate our housing delivery plans through the existing channels,” she said.