Squatters destroy farm house

LEANDRA – Squatters illegally occupying land is not the only problem in Leandra.

The Echo reported last week that when some land owners got to their land, squatters were standing in queues giving their details to someone who wrote it down.

A few days later, people began building their shacks on these land owners’ land.

One of the land owners had to pull all strings to get help from the Leandra Police Station.

They only helped him after he had phoned Major General Wilson Kekana.

According to an estate agent from Secunda, the owner of a farm lost half of the potential selling price of his farm when squatters broke down the whole farm house and used the materials to build squatter houses.

Squatters finished building their houses on private property and according to the squatters, the owners gave them permission to build there.

One farm owner was not prepared to give up his piece of land and squatters built houses all around his land.

The head of Marketing and Communications of Govan Mbeki Municipality, Mr Henry Masango, said these squatters are occupying the land illegally.

“It is up to the owners to take action and get court orders, but if they do nothing, we will notify the owners and will approach the courts,” said Mr Masango.

“How is the municipality going to provide water, sewage services and electricity to these squatters?” asked one of the land owners.

“It is an offence to illegally squat on other people’s land.”