DA calls for urgent action against Easter land grabbers

12 April 2020

Note to Editors: A video link to Deputy President David Mabuza's recent parliamentary replies on land grabs is attached here.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo to ensure that provincial and municipal assets are protected by putting an immediate end to land grabs.

On Good Friday, residents of Johannesburg South woke up to the scene of more than 1000 people, including undocumented foreign nationals, helping themselves to government owned land at the expanded Jackson’s Drift Informal Settlement near Eikenhof, bordering Midvaal.

It is clear that the land invasion was orchestrated to take advantage of the limited presence of law enforcement agencies who are monitoring compliance of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations during the Easter period.

Previous housing projects to provide permanent solutions at this informal settlement have been insufficient, and provided an excuse to those who are desperate for housing to relocate to this area in the hope of accelerated delivery.

What we are seeing is pure criminality.

The DA has been reliably informed that the stands that were marked and taken over by land grabbers, were illegally sold by local coordinators.

We call for immediate action to be taken against these fraudulent land sellers for scamming the most vulnerable people in our society for their own selfish gain.

Land grabs over the Easter period are particularly common in Gauteng, and many similar invasions have happened over the years, with the most recent being at the Sicelo Informal Settlement in Midvaal.

In a recent parliamentary reply to a DA question, Deputy President David Mabuza made it abundantly clear to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), that provinces and municipalities must protect their assets and not allow land grabs.

Issued by Dennis Ryder, DA Gauteng Member of the NCOP, 12 April 2020