Metro warns on land invasions

Anyone who invades land in Nelson Mandela Bay will be evicted, human settlements portfolio head Nqaba Bhanga has reiterated.

He was speaking to 13 residents from Joe Slovo and Zinyoka – some wearing EFF T-shirts – last Friday at the Port Elizabeth City Hall.

“What destroys your struggles is the criminal element. The municipality has to defend the rightful owners of the sites you’ve built on,” he said.

The municipality was working on having only one housing list as several appeared to be in circulation.

The residents sat down with Bhanga and municipal social development, education and administration director Simiselo Nongampula.

Lungelwa Makina, from Joe Slovo, said people invaded land because they were promised sites and the municipality failed to deliver.

“From what we see, we will never have our own houses built,” she said.

Another woman, who declined to be named, said a big issue was a list for 125 backyard dwellers who were meant to be relocated to serviced sites in Joe Slovo.
“In the last meeting we had with the municipality, you agreed with the community that there would be a delegation from the municipality that would conduct a verification process to identify who these 125 people are.

“The next thing we hear is that you couldn’t find these people, which is a lie because my brother is one of them,” she said.

Bhanga said the municipality had tried to verify the names of the 125 people but could not find them.

They had also found irregularities as some names on the list belonged to businessmen from around the metro.

“If you know someone, bring them to the councillor’s office so they can be verified,” Bhanga said.

Both residents said if the municipality planned to evict people, it should house them elsewhere.

Nongampula said there was a team that dealt with all invasions.

“If you want to protect your material, remove it now, so don’t bother staying there,” he said.

He was speaking to 13 residents from Joe Slovo and Zinyoka – some wearing EFF T-shirts – last Friday at the Port Elizabeth City Hall.

“What destroys your struggles is the criminal element. The municipality has to defend the rightful owners of the sites you’ve built on,” he said.

The municipality was working on having only one housing list as several appeared to be in circulation.

The residents sat down with Bhanga and municipal social development, education and administration director Simiselo Nongampula.

Lungelwa Makina, from Joe Slovo, said people invaded land because they were promised sites and the municipality failed to deliver.

“From what we see, we will never have our own houses built,” she said.

Another woman, who declined to be named, said a big issue was a list for 125 backyard dwellers who were meant to be relocated to serviced sites in Joe Slovo.
“In the last meeting we had with the municipality, you agreed with the community that there would be a delegation from the municipality that would conduct a verification process to identify who these 125 people are.

“The next thing we hear is that you couldn’t find these people, which is a lie because my brother is one of them,” she said.

Bhanga said the municipality had tried to verify the names of the 125 people but could not find them.

They had also found irregularities as some names on the list belonged to businessmen from around the metro.

“If you know someone, bring them to the councillor’s office so they can be verified,” Bhanga said.

Both residents said if the municipality planned to evict people, it should house them elsewhere.

Nongampula said there was a team that dealt with all invasions.

“If you want to protect your material, remove it now, so don’t bother staying there,” he said.