Expansion of Glen Hills settlement concerns residents
Members of the neighbourhood watch reported concerning activities, including the unauthorized clearing and selling of land plots.
THE Glen An-Hills Neighbourhood Watch convened an urgent public meeting on Saturday to address issues surrounding the expansion of the Malacca Road Informal Settlement and a land grab in the green belt area adjacent to Moreland Drive.
Members of the watch reported concerning activities, including the unauthorised clearing and selling of land plots within what is designated as a Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D’Moss) conservation area.
Avi Pillay, the deputy chairperson of the watch, revealed that an individual from Ndwedwe was claiming these lands as ancestral, adding complexity to the already tense situation.
During the meeting, Pillay, alongside Terry Holmes of the Glenhills Ratepayers’ Association and Robin Naidoo from the Indian Land Claimants, informed residents about the challenges facing the community. They reported that between 20 and 30 plots had already been cleared, disrupting both the environment and local communities.
“We are there on an almost daily basis. The area where the land grab is occurring is between the back of the Malacca settlement, stretching as far as the boundary walls of factories and businesses on Moreland Drive. We’ve witnessed plots of land that have been cleared, trees that have been cut down and wooden poles marking out boundaries of informal dwellings. It is important to note that the Malacca Road Informal Settlement community are not involved in this.
“We’ve discovered this as an outside group who are claiming this as ancestral land. In fact, we’ve discovered an individual is selling plots to outsiders. At this point, the community of the settlement have been told not to interfere in the situation. We, as ratepayers, now need to put pressure on our councillor, Aamir Abdul, to go to City Hall and inform the eThekwini Municipality on the situation,” he said.
Pillay said the watch had also sought the assistance of the land invasion unit.
“We feel decisive action is needed as the situation is spiralling out of control. We need the situation managed in a better way, and we need the help of the municipality. We fear if the settlement grows any more, we could be facing a situation similar to Sim Place in Effingham. Of course, in the interim, this affects property devaluation and could lead to increased crime in the area. We need to put pressure on the council to act,” he said.
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