squatters – praag.org

Overturned cement truck raided

“It’s Christmas!”

At least that’s what one resident from the hundreds of Video Center Informal Settlement’s black squatters thought who were allowed to gather cement that spilled as a result of a truck overturning.

The truck, transporting cement, overturned on the N14 on-ramp to Beyers Naudé Drive early yesterday, 18 August, morning leaving only the diver injured.

“We can now continue building our house,” the man said while his wife held open a bag full of cement.

The Joburg Metro’s Fire Department, Mogale City’s Traffic Department and Disaster Management Team were on the scene along with an ambulance who transported the driver.

By noon, the Fire Department covered the diesel spillage while amused by the Video Center residents who filled bags and buckets to the brim with cement.

“It seems news travels fast,” one Fire Department officer told the Krugersdorp News.

According to the officer, this is the second truck to overturn at the N14 on-ramp from Beyers Naudé Drive this year.

EFF targets mining magnates

Closing the EFF’s national people’s assembly in Bloemfontein yesterday, party president Julius Malema called on members to “block mines” in which magnate Patrice Motsepe (African Rainbow Minerals), Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa ( Lonmin) and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete (Gold Fields) had interests.

Malema described the proposed mass action as a protest against the way in which black economic empowerment benefited only a few wealthy, politically connected individuals instead of communities.

“We target these companies not because of the perceived ANC sympathies of the beneficiaries but because the money should be put to use to empower communities, and these people are the faces of the few who have become rich rather than creating community trusts,” he said.

Malema said yesterday the EFF intended always to act “within the law and the constitution. We are a disciplined organisation.”

He said land grabs were necessary to prevent the “land issue from leading to the civil strife it has caused in the rest of Africa”.

Police recently removed land invaders organised by the EFF from an area near Nelmapius in Pretoria. The squatters christened the area Malemaville.

But political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the EFF was being “disingenuous”.

“The biggest contradiction with the EFF is that you have a party that agrees to be in parliament and therefore agrees to be bound by the [legal] processes of that institution but chooses to use extra-legal means to achieve its objectives. It is disingenuous,” he said.

“[Malema’s] words would carry weight, perhaps, if they had refused to take part in elections and chosen to go outside the parliamentary process, but they have chosen not to do so. I think they are concerned about being seen to be swallowed up by parliamentary processes. No one is stopping them abdicating their positions in parliament.”

With only 25 seats in parliament, the EFF has so far failed to influence policy positions. It has instead resorted to showmanship, best characterised by the August 21 “pay back the money” chanting.

Political analyst JP Landman said the EFF’s utterances were good for democracy.

“What it has done is force people to take a stand. Since the EFF has come to parliament, the ANC has come out saying it is committed to land reform.”

The ANC, Landman said, was committed to land reform within the context of Section 25 of the constitution, which stipulated that property may be expropriated only by law, with payment of compensation.

Source: timeslive

Land invasion south of Johannesburg

Residents from the Lawley informal settlement have invaded land along the Lawley Road, south of Johannesburg.

The residents formed small groups on the land while community members addressed them amid heavy police presence.

According to Thabangu Masukela, a member of the community at the informal settlement, residents went to “claim” the land after Deputy Chief Whip of the Council, Justice Ngalonkulu told the leaders of the community: “This Lawley should be your new home.”

Masukela also said that they wanted to “protect” their land from residents of Lawley 2, another informal settlement who were also invading land.

The land that residents are claiming belongs to Frederick Joseph and Millas Jane Merry.

“The government has not spoken to us about these land claims,” Christian Merry, one of the sons of Frederick Joseph and Millas Jane told Radio Islam.

“Last year we saw an article in a local newspaper about our land going to be used for low cost housing. My parents consulted a lawyer to engage the government, and to date we have heard nothing,” he said.

Meanwhile residents maintain they are not going back on their action of not “claiming” the land. “The government has spoken to us about the land,” said one resident.

“Negotiate while we are staying there,” said another.

Ismail Vadi, the ANC MEC for Roads and Transport told Radio Islam, that the MMC for Housing Dan Mbovu was aware of the land invasion that was taking place and summoned the police to the site.

Despite the residents claim that the land invasion was peaceful, Lawley Road was strewn with rocks and rubbish.

There was also police presence in the area with one officer saying that they were waiting for the ANC local ward councilor Janice Ndarala to address the residents.

Deputy Chief Whip of the council, Justice Ngalonkulu was unavailable for comment.

The deputy chief whip of the ANC in the City of Johannesburg, Ngalonkulu, is facing allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with Zero Defect Trading, a contractor that is involved in the R170 million Alexandra smart metre project.

Sunday World has established that Ngalonkulu now cruises around in a convertible BMW 335i.

Source: Radio Islam

Mandela’s daughter shares property with vandals, squatters, rats

The late Nelson Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who owns a R2 million house in Houghton, shares her property with vandals, squatters and rats.

Mandela’s family has been at war, bickering between themselves over his many millions. It is feared that his surviving family will be plunged in to deep rifts over who stands to gain his fortune.

Mandela was married three times and fathered six children – only three of whom, his daughters Makaziwe, Zenani and Zindzi, are still alive.

Neighbours in the upmarket Joburg suburb are complaining bitterly that the house is drawing bad elements and crime into the area and that it is devaluing their own properties.

The complainants did not want to be named, but said the pavement outside Mandela’s house is filled with rubbish and “rats are running wild in the thick undergrowth”. People urinate and throw rubbish onto the pavement.

“We have complained, but nothing gets done because an influential family owns it,” said one neighbour.

The house, in Fifth Street, has been badly vandalised and has only a few walls and some roofing left. It has been stripped of all electrical fittings and plumbing pipes.

So desperate are the neighbours that they are now asking for permission to tear down the standing walls themselves in an effort to make sure that squatters can no longer live on the property.

“This property, worth a couple of million rand, belongs to a person who last year asked for legal aid in a case involving a burial dispute,” said another neighbour.

Title deeds for the property, seen by The Star, show the registered owner as the Zindzi Mandela Family Trust, and that it was bought for R2m.

The same address is given by Zindzi as her residential address on other legal documents.

Following complaints by neighbours, city councillor Marcelle Ravid called in the City of Joburg’s environmental health inspectors.

After an inspection was conducted on December 19, a notice was issued to the owners – again listed as the Zindzi Mandela Family Trust – instructing them to clean up the property.

Zindzi was given 21 days to clean up the property. However, the deadline has since expired, nothing has been done and the house remains in the same derelict condition.

Source: IOL

Elderly Mpuma farmer killed in latest farm attack

An elderly man has been shot dead on his farm in Waterval Boven, Mpumalanga, provincial police said on Monday.

“[Around] 6pm on Friday, Mr Garth Johnson, 67, was fatally wounded in his home on … his farm,” Colonel Leonard Hlathi said.

The man’s 70-year-old wife was at home at the time and heard gunshots, but did not see her husband’s attacker.

Hlathi said the man died on the scene and nothing was stolen from the house.

No one had been arrested by 8am on Monday.

Beeld newspaper reported on Monday that another farmer in the area alleged that Johnson could have been killed because of a dispute with the new owners of a farm he lost through a land claim.

According to the report, Johnson had a heated meeting with the new owners last week.

Johnson was reportedly unhappy that squatters had moved onto the farm he had lost.

Hlathi said police would not narrow their investigation based on this claim.

“We won’t be drawn into those allegations. We are [viewing] this issue as an lone incident.”

However, if the allegation was true, this would emerge in the police investigation, he said.

He appealed to anyone with information about the murder to contact the police. – Sapa