Residents angry about relocation of informal settlers
Residents of Sunset Drive in Muldersdrift are angry about the relocation of the squatters behind Cradlestone Mall. They claim this will cause more problems than solutions.
After months of community members complaining about the informal settlements expanding behind Cradlestone Mall, the Red Ants were deployed on Tuesday 4 December to relocate the residents.
They went into various informal settlements and started packing up shacks and belongings and moving them to a property on Sunset Drive in Muldersdrift.
However, the community surrounding Portions 615 and 616, the two properties earmarked for the relocation, is everything but happy.
“They did not ask anyone and they didn’t take the community into account when they made this move,” said Johannes Taljaard, a business owner whose property is adjacent to the new settlement. He said his company does a lot of transport and this new settlement will make it difficult for them to work.
An increase in taxis and other vehicles has already been reported.
When the News arrived on scene on Tuesday, one of the residents at the old settlement said they were not aware that they were going to be moved. While talking to him, the Red Ants could be seen loading furniture on trucks and bakkies. They have been moving people to the new property for the past two days.
Kevin Solomon, the estate agent who sold the property to Blue Age 60 Properties, an entity owned by Absa, said he was not aware of the intended use of the property.
He said he was in charge of marketing the property when another estate agency informed him that they had buyers for the property.
The buyers offered the asking price of R3,6 million and on the offer to purchase they said the property will go to Blue Age 60 Properties or a nominee. When asked who the nominee was, he was told that it would be a developer.
The offer to purchase was accepted and Blue Age 60 Properties informed him the property should be registered in Mogale City’s name.
According to Solomon, he tried to stop the sale but his legal representative told him that it was already too late. The property was registered in Mogale City’s name on 1 November 2018.
For Solomon, the new developments also pose a problem, as he lives right around the corner from the land to which the people have been relocated.
Residents are unhappy because there are not adequate services on the plot to accommodate such a large number of people.
Mike Combrinck, from Ever-Last Distributors, had already laid various complaints about an adjacent piece of land that Mogale City wanted to start developing last year. They wanted to connect the sewerage system with the Rietvallei sewerage plant, but according to Combrinck the plant is already overburdened and polluting the area around it.
Another concern is the criminal element. According to residents two dogs have already been poisoned.
After the sale of the two properties, Solomon tried to get a letter from Mogale City stating that they would not put squatters on the property. They sent a letter that read, “As part of the Integrated Development Plan’s community needs identification and assessment, the municipality has realised that some communities around the Muldersdrift area have to be provided with proper housing and an appropriate level of basic services. The property will be used as serviced stands and to develop low-cost housing units to accommodate people staying in the rural areas and those who have been resettled from different formal and informal dwellings, and further to assist in addressing the lack of housing in the city and in the country as a whole.”
Local residents are trying to figure out what their next step should be, as this will cause the value of their property to drop. Most of these residents and businesses also use borehole water, which could become polluted if no services are in place.
Another great concern is the fact that the generator supplying electricity to a part of the area is between these two properties. If illegal connections are made, this could affect the residents’ power supply.
Read the initial article here:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/287191/just-squatters-moved-behind-cradlestone-mall/
Roodepoort Northside journalist, Siso Naile, approached both Absa and the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) for comment on this matter. Absa Group Media Relations officer, Bheki Mpofu shed light on how Absa bank got into the centre of this land dispute saga.
“Blue Age Properties 60, a subsidiary company of Absa Group, is the owner of land next to the Cradlestone Mall which is currently illegally occupied,” Mpofu said.
He indicated that the court had ordered MCLM at the end of November to relocate the illegal occupants from the land.
“A court order was issued on 27 November 2018, instructing MCLM to relocate the illegal occupants of the land. Mogale has had consultations with the illegal occupants to explain their relocation to an alternative portion of land owned by the City, in line with the court order,” he explained, adding that, “Blue Age has been working closely with the council of Mogale City in ensuring a responsible relocation process of the informal settlement”.
Some neighbours of the plot where the informal dwellers have been relocated to accused the municipality of bypassing them and moving the dwellers without a public participation process.
However, this was disputed by ward councillor Molefi Sebilo, who told the News that he conducted the public participation himself and submitted the report to Mogale City.
“There has been a public participation from my side with the community. A report with the recommendations about the move was compiled and submitted to the decision-makers, which are the municipal manager and the Mayor,“ he explained.
When asked about the findings of the public participation process, Sebilo said the results could only be shared by the Mogale City Mayor, Naga Patrick Lipudi.
Before this story went to print Lipudi’s office was emailed a set of questions to clarify the issue, but there was no response. His phone also rang unanswered.
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