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The invasion of RDP houses and private land currently plaguing Gauteng can be likened to cash-in-transit heists, says the province’s MEC for Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Dikgang Moiloa.
“The unlawful occupation of vacant RDP houses that have been assigned owners is no different to cash-in-transit heists. Successful cash-in-transit heists will net those involved roughly tens of thousands of rands ranging into the millions.
“When one juxtaposes this to what the Gauteng department of human settlements is facing – which is unruly individuals who have hijacked unoccupied RDPs in excess of 1000 homes – then one would realise that we are losing billions to these unlawful acts. Far more than any successful heist,” said Moiloa.
The MEC was speaking at a media briefing held at the Gauteng Gambling Board offices in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The briefing came after Moiloa’s meeting with all municipalities two weeks ago and was meant to shed light on the declarations agreed upon, particularly pertaining to human settlements and service delivery stumbling blocks.
According to Moiloa, Olievenhoutbosch extension 27 – a township in Centurion – has been plagued by the most incidents of land invasions and residents occupying vacant RDP houses.
Land invaders in Olievenhoutbosch were given until June 30 to vacate the houses they occupied after the high court in Pretoria granted the department an order to remove the illegal dwellers in May.
The court order came after local residents illegally occupied 888 low-cost houses which were built for Mooiplaas informal settlement residents.
Since then, all 888 “homeowners” have refused to vacate the properties.
Even with the department having won the case in May, Moiloa explained that the matter was not done and dusted.
“Legislation – particularly the Government versus Grootboom Constitutional Court judgment of October 4 2000 – dictates that when government evicts people they should find them alternative temporary housing until they receive permanent housing,” said Moiloa.
Even though the conditions leading to the 2000 judgment and the one currently faced by the department are vastly different, legislation as it currently stands protects “these unlawful acts” as government is required to now find alternative housing for the land invaders.
Moiloa said the most concerning fact was that “prominent political leaders such as EFF leader Julius Malema encourage unsuspecting citizens to take part in such unlawful acts and in so doing cripple service delivery to deserving South Africans who have been long awaiting them”.
The MEC also added that in such a case if the government “proceeded to govern and removed these illegal tenants then the media will side with them as heroes being wronged by government”.
Moiloa said his department needed to start working closely with other government departments to ensure that landless South Africans become land owners.
He also blamed the housing backlog and service delivery protests in the province on the lack of cooperation from the DA’s Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba and Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga.
Moiloa called for a probe on the DA mayors “for their dodgy deals that may result in the collapse of Joburg and Tshwane”.
“Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba cannot investigate himself about allegations of procurement maladministration in his city‚ while Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga cannot claim ignorance about tender irregularities in his backyard,” said Moiloa.
The MEC said after numerous failed attempts to engage with the two mayors he had resorted to “calling on [Gauteng] premier David Makhura to institute a forensic investigation into the two DA-run metros to uncover the truth”.
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