Tshwane, Home Affairs partner to combat illegal land occupation

Tshwane metro will look to work with Home Affairs to combat illegal land occupation, illegal immigration and theft, according to FF Plus councillor and MMC for community safety in Tshwane, Grandi Theunissen.

Theunissen said illegal immigrants, particularly those guilty of crime and illegal land occupation, will soon be deported to their country of origin.

Illegal land occupation has been a very big problem in Pretoria east for decades now.

He said Centurion and Pretoria east, have been besieged by land grabs and infrastructure vandalism allegedly at the hands of illegal immigrants.

“The Tshwane metro and the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Leon Schreiber, agreed on Friday, September 6 to co-operate and address the problem. It is expected that a formal co-operative agreement will be entered into soon.”

Theunissen added that the FF Plus discussed how to address several pressing problems, including illegal land occupation, crime, the sale of counterfeit goods, cable theft, illegal electricity connections and extortion, with Schreiber.

“One of the biggest issues is foreigners who illegally occupy abandoned buildings in the city centre where they rent rooms to other undocumented foreigners, which poses a health, fire and safety risk.”

He said syndicates are allegedly working with city officials, law firms and the deeds office to transfer properties to the names of criminals.

“Large quantities of counterfeit goods are sold in Pretoria West, where many Somalis live, while drug trafficking is the order of the day in Sunnyside (known as Little Lagos), where mostly Nigerians live,” he said.

Theunissen said Centurion and Pretoria east, where illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique are concentrated, led in cable theft and infrastructure vandalism.

“In addition to helping with immigration control, the minister was also asked to help with immediate deportation, more stringent border control and investigating corruption at South African borders.”

He said the FF Plus believes that other departments should also be involved in curbing the problem effectively.

“The illegal hijacking of buildings in Tshwane must be stopped, so, the FF Plus is committed to eradicating the problem and the crime that goes hand in hand with it.”

Recently residents of Garsfontein worried about the illegal land occupation and erection of structures along Garstfontein Road opposite Builders Warehouse.

The residents stated that land grabbing also led to illegal dumping, which is an ongoing nightmare.

They have raised concerns regarding this issue also being a major health and environmental hazard.

Despite the efforts of organisations in the area to clean up the illegal dumping sites, the problem has escalated in some areas. Most worrying is the illegal dumping behind Plastic View between De Villebois Mareuil Drive and Mooikloof Ridge Estate, where the extent of the issue has become much more significant.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the metro recently established a task team which comprises various departments to look at several by-law enforcement, land invasion and illegal dumping.

“As part of the intervention actions, the Tshwane Metro Police (TMPD) By-law Enforcement section together with the Environmental Management Inspector and Waste Management officials, warned the informal recyclers illegally dumping waste along Garstfontein Road to remove it within 14 days.”

Mashigo said furthermore, the department has developed an illegal dumping clearance schedule that focuses on the removal of builder rubble that is dumped along this route to prevent environmental degradation of this area.

He said the city is inundated with illegal dumping, hence it is impossible for it to clear all the spots as soon as they are reported.

This was the reason the Rekaofela campaign has been launched to invite the community to join hands with the city to fight illegal dumping, he added.

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