More than 300 illegal dwellings removed near N12 in Lenasia

On 18 and 19 July, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) removed more than 300 half-built and unoccupied illegal structures along the K43 link-up with the N12 in Lenasia.

This comes after several complaints by community members who are concerned about the rising numbers of illegal informal settlements.

JMPD spokesperson Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said: “There was a protest by the people who were erecting illegal structures. They attempted to block the N12 so the JMPD officers had to use rubber bullets to disperse them.”

“All materials consisting of corrugated iron, wooden poles, wooden boards and pipes which were used to erect the structures were confiscated. JMPD will monitor that area, to see that structures are not erected again,” Minnaar added.

Image: Supplied.

In other news, the City of Tshwane announced that the Mamelodi flood victims will finally be relocated to Mooiplaats.

The relocation process started with those who were affected mostly by floods on 9 December 2019.

Many residents were left homeless and were forced to seek refuge at community halls and local churches after heavy rains swept away everything they owned, leaving them only with the clothes on their backs.

Hundreds of families will now be relocated to a safer area, where they will have temporary basic services such as water tanks and mobile toilets.

Tshwane metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said phase 1 of the relocation process started earlier this week.

“This phase will only involve 23 people that are housed in Stanza Bopape Hall, 23 people who are in the Nellmapius multi-purpose centre and 38 people who are in the Baptist Church,” Bokaba said.

“The criteria to be used is that the people housed at centres must be able to prove they were affected by the 2019 flood.”

This article first appeared on Rising Sun Lenasia and was republished with permission.

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