News that the Emfuleni Local Municipality is set to swoop on and demolish some 200 illegally built houses in the Ironsyde/Debonair Park area is a sad indicator of how widespread the problem of illegal land grabs in the province is, especially in the wake of the Lenasia demolitions last week.
The news also confirms the need for the government to act decisively with those who continue to illegally build on state-owned land so that the behaviour is discouraged among Gauteng communities. It is clear that allowing for these actions to happen not only transgresses property rights; but also puts the province’s planning into disarray while also promoting the work of criminal syndicates.
While it has been argued in some quarters that the government should have been more humane in handling the matter in Lenasia, some conveniently forget that this issue has been going on for more than six years. As a caring government, we have been at pains to interact and engage with the affected parties to find an amicable solution to the matter, albeit with little co-operation from the affected parties. This is despite the government being granted permission to demolish the illegally-built houses in September 2011.
Also, in planning for the demolitions, we consciously identified stands that had perimeter walls and houses that were unoccupied. It is our understanding that many people moved in to the vacant houses overnight following news of the first demolitions. We are not so inhuman that we will demolish occupied houses which had families in them, especially women and children.
We did not take the decision lightly and that is why we took more than one year before acting on the court order. Within that year, several attempts at mediation were explored but these also failed. That is simply because we preferred it if those affected could demolish the structures themselves or approach us to finding an amicable solution. After several calls for engagements with the affected residents; less than 15 of the more than 150 affected households attended the meetings. At the meetings it was found that only three families qualified for government support and is on our Housing Waiting List. Their matter is being attended to.
What is sad about the poor turnout at these meetings is that residents missed an opportunity to explore several solutions – including legally purchasing the land from the department – instead choosing to ignore the matter and hoping it would go away.
As the government, we cannot discourage those who would like to build their own houses. In fact, among our housing offerings; we have assistance aimed at people who would like to build houses for themselves. The problem is when people build on illegally-acquired land and commit even more crimes by illegally connecting water and electricity to their properties. As the government, we cannot condone lawlessness and anarchy.
That Gauteng is home to 13 million inhabitants – the biggest population in the country - while it is the smallest province poses many challenges for us as the government – impacting on planning and the delivery of services. We cannot, therefore, allow that very limited space to be usurped by criminal syndicates while deserving, law-abiding citizens wait patiently on housing queues.
However, the brouhaha about this has shown that as government you can never win. You are damned if you act and you are doomed if you don’t.
One thing that we cannot do is sit idly by and allow criminal elements and syndicates to paralyse the government. We must always uphold the rule of law. If something seems too good to be true; it usually is. People need to double check, especially when making life-long investments such as building a house.
Ironically, it is those who say the state should let the residents stay in those illegally-built houses without taking any action who are the first to complain when criminals wrongly take their properties – whether it be cars, phones or land.
Even if it seems those who build houses on illegally-acquired land are lessening the pressure on the state to deliver houses for them; the end can never justify the means – lest we declare an open season for criminal syndicates in Gauteng.
