Five people are expected to appear in court today on charges of malicious damage to property after they were arrested in Waterfall, Midrand, in an attempted land invasion incident.
The five were allegedly part of a group of people who attempted to invade vacant, privately owned land in Waterfall.
On Friday, police spokesperson Captain Meyer said about 2 000 people gathered on a piece of land in Waterfall at about 11am and attempted to invade it.
READ MORE: Five suspects arrested during attempted Waterfall land invasion
According to media reports, the police removed building material from the land.
The SABC reports that the five are from Alexandra Township and had been part of the would-be land invaders who had grown impatient with waiting for RDP housing.
One resident told the news channel that she had been on a list for the RDP housing for more than 20 years, yet nothing had come to fruition.
The resident said she lived with five family members in one room in the township.
The land invasion attempt comes just a few weeks after a group of people who were allegedly acting on instruction from the regional Economic Freedom Fighter’s leadership illegally occupied land in Midrand.
Speaking in a radio interview following that incident, a member of the mayoral committee for public safety in the City of Johannesburg said a backlog in the construction of RDP houses may be a contributing factor to land invasions around the city.
The member said the City was dealing with the housing backlog and working to grant title deeds to RDP beneficiaries as a way of addressing the growing concern of land invasions.
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