Officials fail to turn up for land meeting

The Alexandra Land Task Team, which comprises land activists from the township, were dropped by Gauteng government and City of Johannesburg officials who failed to turn up for a meeting scheduled on 30 October at the Sandton offices of the municipality.

The meeting was meant to find an amicable solution to the long standing land and property rights impasse in the township which has hampered the progress of the Presidential Renewal Project launched in 2001. Leader of the task team and MMC for Housing in the city Dan Bovu and his entourage failed to pitch up at the scheduled meeting.

“We waited and waited for the government and city entourage and they never showed up. When phoned, we were told MMC Bovu was at a meeting at Sankopano,” said secretary general of the Alexandra Land and Property Owners Association (Alpoa), Jacky Segopa.

Property rights activists from Alpoa are joint members of the task team along with Alexandra Property Owners’ Rights (Apor). They both waited in vain for the government and city entourage to arrive. Asked what the way forward was now that the meeting failed to materialise, Segopa said it was up to them (government and city officials) to be serious about resolving this impasse.

“If they do not exhibit the seriousness that the land and property rights question deserves in Alexandra, we are left with no option but to pursue the legal route,” said a furious Segopa.

The discussions were supposed to centre around the restoration of title deeds in the township which were usurped by the apartheid government. The meeting was expected to deliberate on the city’s proposal for the restoration of 150 properties, a move which Segopa had earlier dismissed as falling far too short of the more than 300 land claimants.

According to Segopa, the Gauteng government and city officials believe there are only 150 genuine land claimants, hence their decision to only award those. He said their decision was based on an erroneous audit which was conducted by the Alexandra Renewal Project more than a year ago and cost the taxpayer R25 million.

“We will never accept a decision to award only 150 claimants. We want all the land and property rights claims restored lock, stock and barrel,” he said.

Segopa accused the Gauteng government of wanting to negotiate in bad faith. “They negotiate with us but secretly approach our members as individuals, and seek to lure them to accept a compensation of R50 000 to forgo their land claims,” he said.