Gauteng Human Settlements Dpt fails to clamp down on illegal land invasions

14 May 2018

The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements is not doing enough to curb illegal land invasions that have been spreading like wild fire across the province.

This was revealed by the Gauteng Human Settlements and COGTA MEC, Uhuru Moiloa in a written reply to questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

According to MEC Moiloa, 2772 incidents of land invasions have occurred in the 2016/17 financial year and 1647 incidents of land invasions occurred in the 2017/18 financial year.

In total 4419 incidents of land invasions have occurred in different areas which includes both public and private land. In only 33 areas out of 4419 have the illegal invaders been evicted and 22 cases opened; 14 cases have been concluded and 12 are still outstanding.

The following table indicates the illegal land invasions incidents and court cases:

These statistics indicate that the Department is failing to tackle this ever-growing problem which is leading to escalating levels of community conflict. 

The City of Joburg is not represented on the list of municipalities that have experienced land invasions, which indicates that these statistics are not up to date.

The substantial housing backlog that has reached over a million as well as the desperate need for housing from our poor people has given rise to illegal land invasions.

This practice of illegal land invasion has been ignited by the ANC and EFF’s policy on expropriation of land without compensation.

Further complicating this issue, the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura has recently announced that they will be handing over land to people to build their own houses without a proper strategy on exactly how this will work.

This will result in more problems if not handled properly, as there are no plans and no time line on how the process of issuing land will unfold.

The DA has made it clear that it does not support an amendment to Section 25 of the Constitution as it is not an inhibitor to land reform, a lack of political will does, as is evident in Gauteng. We strongly condemn the illegal invasions of land and demand that action be taken against the perpetrators.

The only solution to this problem is to ensure that the Department of Human Settlements provides decent housing to our poor people who have been on the waiting list for years. They should also prioritise the completion of unfinished housing projects and allocate all the vacant units to their rightful beneficiaries. The Department must utilise appropriate development contracts to avoid court battles and contractors not finishing the projects on time and within budget.

We will continue to put pressure on MEC Moiloa to fast-track the completion of the unfinished housing projects and to allocate the rightful beneficiaries to all the completed and vacant housing units. This will quell illegal land invasion in the province and drastically reduce the housing backlog.

Issued by Mervyn Cirota, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Human Settlements, 14 May 2018