Squatter camps mushroom across BCM

Many parts of Buffalo City Metro are slowly being swallowed by illegal squatter camps.

East London suburbs like Dorchester Heights, Beacon Bay, Greenfields and Buffalo Flats are among the areas experiencing a growing number of illegal land invasions.

The East London CBD has two “established” squatter camps - near the East London court and the labour department. 

Three people located in a squatter camp in the Beacon Bay area, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they did not have anywhere else to go, and chose to build their homes where they felt it was suitable for them.

“We are unemployed, so it is convenient to be located where the economy is booming, such as the Hemingways Mall and Beacon Bay,” one said.

“It is easy for us to walk there and beg for employment.”

A 42-year-old who lives with her two children said she had fled from home in the former Transkei region because of family problems.

“I was tired of always arguing with my family,” she said.

“My children and I depend solely on social grants to survive.

“We are hoping to get proper houses from the municipality because this lifestyle is dangerous.” 

Another squatter said he had previously lived in West Bank but had moved to Beacon Bay after being forcefully moved by BCM as he had lived there in another illegal informal settlement. 

“I do not work, so I always walk to Bonza Bay for casual jobs,” he said.

For several years, East London residents have expressed their frustrations on social media about illegal dwellers tampering with their electricity supply. 

One post reading: “Buffalo City is losing a lot of revenue in informal settlements that are not paying rates.

“These non-ratepaying areas are large compared to us. When you try to take it up [with the authorities], nothing seems to be taken seriously because these people are seen as ‘voters’.” 

BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “This is an ongoing issue that is affecting several communities and businesses and we urge all parties involved not to break the laws of the country, which are very clear on land invasions, together with the challenges that this poses for government.

“We are also aware that some are aiding invaders for profit and other gains, and they too are urged to refrain from doing so or they will face the full might of the law.

“The municipality has channels in place for anyone wishing to occupy land and that is the correct method to follow.

“So if there are reports of new invasions it just demonstrates the disregard for the rule of law and while this is a revolving door syndrome, we are going to continue with the clampdown operations.”

Ward 4 (Selborne, Highgate, Cambridge West, Cambridge Town, Chiselhurst, Garcia, Berea) councillor Allister Stewart said he was aware of the illegal dwellings near Hemingways Mall and had alerted BCM.

“I alerted the department of human settlements last year and they promised to attend to the matter,” he said.

Former Green Scorpions director Dr Div de Villiers said the two major land invasions when it came to environmental damage were the ones near Hemingways Mall and at Greysdale Farm, near the King Phalo Airport.

“They are destroying plants and protected wildlife is being hunted.

“There are no controlled solid waste or ablution facilities and sewage seeps into plants, which kills them and the wildlife.

“There is a court order that is yet to be implemented by the municipality to remove the informal settlement expanding near the mall on the N2,” he said.

De Villiers said a court order had also been applied for someyears ago to remove the illegal informal settlement near the airport, but nothing was being done. 

At the time BCM said the land in question belonged to the national department of public works.

The Dispatch reported in December that Buffalo City Metro’s law enforcement officials had demolished 19 illegal shacks built in a bushy area near Abbotsford. 

As the occupants were removing their belongings, a municipal tractor loader backhoe waited, ready to demolish their homes. 

Some of the occupants said they had chosen to erect their shacks in the area because they had no land of their own to build houses on or money to rent accommodation. 

Ngwenya said: “The metro undertook an operation to clamp down on land invasion and as part of the operation 19 structures that were built illegally were demolished in December.

“This followed a warning issued in November to the invaders where structures were demolished.”

Buffalo City Metro's land challenges, some going back many years, have been extensively reported in the Dispatch. There have been repeated attempts to remove illegal dwellings from around the city, particularly in the vicinity of the airport. Often land earmarked for redistribution or restitution had been targeted by invaders. 

In the city's West Bank, residents who were forcefully removed from their homes by the apartheid regime in the 1960s, were among the first cohort of claimants to lodge and win their land claim. An agreement was signed on April 16 2000 and an amount of R36m was put into the project’s trust fund for BCM to build the 2,026 claimant families’ houses after they were allocated 693 sites in the area.

However, the land allocated for development has been repeatedly invaded by squatters.

In October it was reported that national government was to reclaim funds from the city’s coffers as a result of the homes not being built. .

This was announced by the deputy minister of agriculture, land reform & rural development, Mcebisi Skwatsha, who visited claimants in East London. 

The money, in BCM’s care, has grown to more than R100m over the years, according to the city, although not a single house has been built for claimants.