Masakaneng residents disgruntled over illegal land grabs
Masakaneng
Scores of residents from Masakaneng Settlement outside Groblersdal have on Wednesday 14 February, marched to Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality (EMLM) offices on Van Riebeeck Street in Groblersdal. They were complaining against the illegal occupation of a piece of government land in which a local school was earmarked for.
In 2021, the Limpopo Department of Education together with Limpopo Department of Public Works, approved the construction of Aquaville Combined School at Masakaneng Portion 13.
The school project has been delayed since 2021 after the illegal invaders refused to evacuate from the earmarked portion of land that was allocated for the school building.
About 20 structures erected on the land by South Africans who claim they do not have an alternative place should they be removed from the land. EMLM is the custodian of the occupied land.
According to disgruntled residents who want the removal of the illegal invaders, an eviction order was issued in 2021 for the removal of the illegal occupants, however, EMLM is dragging feet to issue a back-up letter that will grant the police and the Red Ants authority to evict these illegal invaders.
A community leader, Mpho Matjomane, said they marched to the local municipality to demand EMLM Town Planner, Sethojoa Boredi, to speed up the removal of the illegal land invaders.
“The illegal land occupation is burdening us, we need the school in our area. It has been long overdue. We tried to hold numerous meetings with the town planner previously but he did not entertain us. This is the reason we decided to come to the municipality to vent our frustrations,” he said.
Matjomane said the community believes that actions taken by some of Masakaneng residents who are illegally occupying the land was lawless and the municipality should have acted immediately after the invasion.
“The municipality should have done everything in its power to protect the land. Today our children are suffering the consequences. The mobile classrooms that were allocated by the Education Department are overcrowded, they cannot cope with their studies at all,” he said.
According to EMLM Spokesperson, Simon Makua, the local municipality has been granted a court order, which will be served to the illegal land invaders.
Makua said the municipality is appealing to affected community members to remain calm while the eviction processes are unfolding.
