Illegal occupants want dumping to stop in Rosherville

The residents of Lindokuhle Mnguni Occupation in Rosherville want their demands to be addressed as soon as possible.

Early this month (February 5 to 7) they blockaded South Rand Road demanding that the land must be left under the democratic and collective management of the residents.

Disgruntled residents blockade South Rand Road with burning tyres pic.twitter.com/2RuAXZaFg4

— Southern Courier SA (@courier_sa) February 7, 2024

On the other side of the coin are the residents from Elandspark who want these residents removed because they moved onto the land illegally.

Elandspark residents and motorists travelling via South Rand Road feel that illegal occupants have no right to make any demands.

Their demands are:

• There must be no more evictions.

• The municipality must provide electricity, water, sanitation and waste collection.

• They need scholar transport for their children to travel to and from schools.

• The massive amount of rubbish that has been dumped on the land must be removed and the dumping must be stopped.

• They also need to be given an address so that they can apply for grants, jobs and schools, and register to vote with an accessible voting station.

The Southern Courier spoke to their chairperson, Luyanda Fitshane and he said people there are tired of waiting, although they are patient. “Everyone needs a home and there is a land which belongs to the people. We have a right to have homes. This government doesn’t want to listen to us. Why are they not heeding our call? Is it because we are poor and black?” he said.

Making the move

The Lindokuhle Mnguni Occupation is now one year old. The land was occupied in early February last year. Most of the people who first occupied the land were renting in Ext Five of the Good Hope shack settlement in Germiston, which is nearby.

They told the Courier they could no longer afford to rent and did not believe that land should be bought and sold or rented.

Fitshane also noted that the Good Hope settlement is between a busy road, a mine dump and a scrapyard, and the dust from the mine dump and the scrapyard is toxic.

“The dust is making people sick. Shacks have been built there without any community planning and it is massively and dangerously overcrowded with all the shacks on top of one another. Living there is very stressful.

“Other people come from places like Soweto, Rosherville, Thembisa, Vosloorus, Katlehong, the Johannesburg CBD and the Germiston CBD. There are people from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and other provinces as well as Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi.

“We decided to find land where we could live well, safely and build a community. Dignity, community and homes all require land so occupying land is always the first step towards freedom. We prayed together asking God to show us the land that we needed to go to, the land where we could fight for our freedom and then we occupied together.

“Now we are working from this land with people across the country, Africa and the world to build a free, democratic and socialist society. People from movements in countries like Swaziland and Argentina have visited the occupation to share ideas and experiences.

“We choose the land that we have occupied because it is not far from where we used to stay, because it is close to where we work and because it is a beautiful and peaceful place that is full of trees.

“Although there is a mine dump on one side it is covered with trees and other plants so there is not much dust. The land is close to industrial areas and people living here are mostly working odd jobs or selling vegetables, fruit and amagwinya nearby,” he said.

Previously evicted

The 100-odd people living in the area have been evicted several times by JMPD, and they would return after the eviction.

Ward 57 Clr Faeeza Chame said she tried her best to intervene in this matter as people from Elandspark were complaining about this settlement.

“Elandspark people said how can I allow this to happen? However, I never did. They are staying there illegally. We went with Social Development and found that people live in shacks and other shacks have no windows. We found that zama zamas dug holes in those shacks. The issue is now with the city and I must say there is no place to relocate them,” she said.

The Southern Courier tried to contact the city to comment on this matter, and Irene Mafune, the regional director of CRUM Region F, said she couldn’t comment on those issues of illegal land invasion. She insisted that JMPD or JPC must comment.

WATCH: South Rand Road blocked with burning tyres