MSHOLOZI – Five months after Mbombela Local Municipality announced the formalisation processes for Msholozi Informal Settlement into a township, many victims still fall prey to illegal selling and buying of stands.
The majority had bought stands from people posing as legitimate owners of the stands, only to find after some time that two or more people claim to own the same stand. Many such activities occur in sections A, C and D.
One of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told this newspaper how he fell victim after desperately looking for a place in the area.
“The people I bought from, claimed to be family members and even took me to a house near the area where they acted as a bereaved family and informed me of the death of the ‘owner’ of the stand and their decision to sell it to me,” he said.
“I was even showed a death certificate to confirm the person’s death and so I trusted them and paid R8 500. I’m just surprised to learn that the stand had been sold to others as well,” he said.
W/O Gugu Phiri, spokesperson for White River Police Station, said they still received complaints from people who fell prey to similar schemes, however the trend seems to have decreased in recent years.
“It’s unfortunate that we cannot help them because such matters don’t fall under police jurisdiction and we were not actually involved in their agreements. We only advise them to try to solve their problems peacefully. We can only open cases of crime where there had been violence and threats against one another,” she said.
The ward’s Cllr Kenneth Mkhonto warned residents to stop buying and selling stands in Msholozi as it was illegal and disturbed the formalisation processes of the area.
“It has been confirmed that the municipality will take over, so people must relax and wait for this to happen. We are planning to convene a meeting soon to address the community on various issues,” said Mkhonto.
Attempts to obtain comment from Mbombela Local Municipality were fruitless as the cellphone of the spokesperson Mr Joseph Ngala rang unanswered.
Apart from the illegal selling and buying of stands, residents of the area still lack basic service infratructure such as roads, water, sewerage and electricity as well as title deeds which were all promised to them on June 14 after the municipality declared that the settlement would be formalised into a township.
The land formerly belonged to the National Department of Public Works and was invaded in 2008.
