Ward 112 councillor aware of illegal dwellers
Ward 12 councillor Lerato Mphefo says she is aware of the dwellers, but it was difficult to remove them because they are on privately owned land.
Online headline: Illegal squatters in Noordwyk frustrate two residents
Teaser: The residents claim that flies emanate from land occupied by the illegal dwellers.
Sphiwe Masilela
sphiwem@caxton.co.za
Two residents who reside on Monica’s Place Street in Noordwyk are upset over illegal squatters who they claim have been neighbours for nearly 10 years.
The residents asked not to be named for fear of victimisation and have been living in Noordwyk for almost 18 years.
The shacks of the squatters are on open land directly behind the residents’ stand-alone houses. The shacks are made of plastic, zinc, and cardboard and from the photos sent to the paper by the residents, there is a pile of recyclable plastic bottles near the structures.
One of the complainants said she had been in the area since 2014 and alleged that the illegal dwellers moved onto the open land around 2019.
“When it’s summer season, the flies from that place are unbearable,” she claimed. “Even in winter, we are still not safe because of fire that breaks out from their shacks and poses a danger to us and our houses. Our property value has depreciated because of them.”
She claimed the squatters were growing in numbers daily.
The other complainant said he was most worried about fire breakouts because the shacks were directly behind his house.
“The situation we are in is awful. They make a fire every night to cook. They do not have toilets to relieve themselves and after it rains, the smell coming from there is intolerable,” he said.
Ward 112 councillor Lerato Mphefo said she was aware of the situation because she had conducted an oversight visit and the challenge was that the dwellers had invaded privately owned land.
“It’s land not owned by the city and therefore the responsibility lies with the owner of the property. As the councillor, I had requested Linda [Vermeulen] from Crum [Citizen Relations Unit Management] to request officials from environmental health to inspect the area. But for me to ask JMPD to remove them would be unlawful. I would like Linda to be the one to give you a full report on this,” said Mphefo
Vermeulen was contacted but referred us to the deputy director for integrated service delivery in the city, Hlobohang Phamoli-Gamede. We sent an email to Gamede asking for comment on November 17.
A follow-up email was sent on November 21 but no response had been received at the time of going to print.
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