WHILE illegal land invasion remains a serious problem in the City of Joburg, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) continues to clamp down on illegal structures.
JMPD officers together with Matla a Morwa Security Company recently conducted an Illegal Land Invasion Operation in Lehae, south of Joburg.
JMPD spokesman Superintendent Xolani Fihla told Daily Sun the operational team managed to demolish and remove about 16 illegal, incomplete and unoccupied brick and mortar structures.
“This is following complaints and an outcry received from the residents of Lehae regarding the illegal structures that are being built on land allocated for RDP houses. People were using the foundations of unfinished houses to build their illegal structures and this became a grave concern for residents,” he said.
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Fihla said that illegal land invasion remains a serious problem in the City of Joburg where people illegally occupy pieces of land without approval from the legal owners.
He encouraged members of the public who witness or have any information regarding illegal land invasions to call the Anti-Land Invasion Hotline on 080 012 0555.
Ward Councillor Sthembiso Zungu told Daily Sun he has been experiencing land invasion issues in his area for about four weeks.
“We have warned the residents that they should not invade the space, but they continued. People are buying stands from a particular person at a price of R15 000. We escalated matters to the relevant people,” he said.
The councillor said JMPD demolished eight houses.
“It’s sad that people doing this owned houses and then sold them. Now they want to go back and invade,” he said.
Gauteng Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development MEC, Lebogang Maile, advised people to stop invading land illegally and building shacks as it is not right and adds to the already existing problems.
