Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo has warned against land invaders and building hijackers that the law will take its course and that such lawlessness will not be tolerated.
MEC Mamabolo sent the stern warning during the handover of two temporary houses to the Mahlangu family who were evicted from a plot in Rayton, Cullinan. The Mahlangu family were evicted from the plot on 4th July 2014 after staying and working in the farm since 1983.
The department together with the City of Tshwane intervened and moved the family to a government owned land nearby. Today the Mahlangu family became the first official residents of this 8,5 hectares of land owned by government.
MEC Mamabolo said the handover of the houses to the destitute family is to protect the constitutional and human rights of vulnerable groups such as women, children, aged and the disabled. “Recently we have witnessed a trend of evictions that violates the human rights of people. We have expressed concern about the manner in which sheriffs in general execute court orders. Our experience thus far is that courts and sheriffs tend to consider the rights of property owners at the expense of vulnerable victims such as children, elderly and the disabled,” said MEC Mamabolo.
Mamabolo said in the case of the Mahlangu family they have discovered that the eviction order was issued by the court in August 2011 but the court stamp is dated 10 February 2014. The matter was brought as an urgent application but only implement 3 years later. “This is strange and I have requested my legal team, together with the legal team from City of Tshwane to investigate the validity of this eviction order,” MEC Mamabolo said.
He said the order to evict the Mahlangu’s family was executed and implemented without meeting all its conditions. “The Mahlangu family was supposed to be paid R244 000 from Mr. Geldenhuys (the property owner) and somehow the amount was reduced to R25 000. This reduced amount was not paid to the family, and it was a prerequisite before the eviction could be effected. We need to check and verify how the sheriff executed the order without following some of the recommendations from the court. We have written to the Board of Sheriffs to complain about the execution of this eviction order,” said MEC Mamabolo.
Tshwane Metro Municipality MMC for Human Settlements Joshua Ngonyama said they are going establish a township on the space of land where the Mahlangu family are residing. “We are going to formalize the area and install the bulk infrastructure. We are going to build homes for the citizens of Tshwane, particularly the disadvantaged and the poor as the Mahlangu family”, said Ngonyama.
On the issue of land invasion the MEC said they cannot allow a situation where people identify land occupy it illegally. “We appeal to our people to follow the rule of law. We would like to condemn groups, political parties and unscrupulous individuals who are using opportunistic tendencies of using poor and working class people to invade land or houses in order to score cheap political gains,” concluded MEC Mamabolo.
For more information contact Motsamai Motlhaolwa at 079 897 2240.
