Human settlements MEC Lebogang Maile’s condemned the attempted invasion of privately-owned land in Rabie Ridge, Joburg.
Land invaders have been clashing with cops since Thursday and have vowed they won’t stop until they get the land. They said they don’t care about RDPs anymore. They just want land to build homes for themselves.
Maile has welcomed the swift response by law enforcement agencies. He said the anti-land invasions strategy unveiled a few months ago is starting to bear fruit.
The MEC has called on the community to stop invading land. He told Daily Sun Gauteng government had to put measures in place to deal decisively with illegal land invasions.
“We’re faced with a serious challenge of housing backlog in the province as a result of people moving to the promised land because it appears to be a place of hope for jobseekers.”
Maile said government has adopted the Rapid Land Response programme intended to give out land parcels for people to build houses for themselves.
“We hope this will dent the number of people looking for houses,” he said.
Residents told Daily Sun they didn’t believe the land was privately-owned.
Sylvia Malamulele (38) said she’s been suffering while renting and raising three kids on her own.
Gladys Zitha (69) said: “I’m tired of moving from one place to another. I want to build a permanent home.”
