Councillor criticises plot owner encouraging land invasion
Councillor Mafinya criticised the land owner as he felt the man encouraged land invasion.
“Invade, but not on my land,” are the words allegedly uttered by a plot owner near Zandspruit who apparently approached a group of land grabbers during a land invasion last week.
The Zandspruit councillor, Victor Mafinya, who received firsthand information from the community, told Northsider that the community members were halted by the plot owner. He said the owner showed them the boundary of his plot (indicating where they should not invade).
“The community is saying there was a man who came to them and told them not to invade his land and showed them where his land ended,” Mafinya explained.
He criticised the landowner as he felt the man actually encouraged the scourge of land invasion. Mafinya indicated that he rejects any form of land invasion as everyone knows about talks of development in Zandspruit.
He added that the on-going crisis resulted in him being summoned to a meeting at the Honeydew Police Station. “On Monday, 30 April, I was called to Honeydew Police Station, to attend a meeting involving police, a plot owner and the people invading the land,” he said.
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Mafinya explained that during the meeting it came to light that there is a group of men going around collecting money and offering stands. Mafinya indicated that the investigating officer had been given names of the culprits.
However, Honeydew Police spokesperson, Captain Balan Muthan, could not confirm knowledge of the list of names.
As a solution, Mafinya said he pleaded with the police and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police to meet and find a way to assist the plot owners.
In a recent Honeydew Sector 3 Community Policing Forum meeting, JMPD’s Superintendent Wandile Mrubata said it’s hard for law enforcement to plan around land invasions as they happen overnight, right across Joburg.
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