The City of Johannesburg says the land occupation is stopping a housing development
Representatives of over 300 families occupying land in Rabie Ridge, south of Midrand in Gauteng, went to court on Tuesday to fight their eviction by the City of Johannesburg.
The occupiers say the City has demolished shacks well over a dozen times but they will keep rebuilding. They are mostly backyarders who occupied municipal land off Modderfontein Road in August 2023.
The land once housed a temporary shelter set up by the City during the Covid lockdown in an attempt to de-densify informal settlements.
In its application for eviction, the City says the land is earmarked for a housing development for the Greater Ivory Park community and is part of continued plans to upgrade informal settlements and de-densify them. The City says it has entered into an agreement with the Housing Development Agency to jointly plan the mixed housing development.
The City further argues that the illegal occupation will spread to the surrounding area and illegal electricity connections will proliferate.
The occupiers say they want the City to allow them to remain on the land and to provide services. They say attempts to engage the City in this regard have been in vain.
Nonhlanhla Nkosi, a private attorney representing the families, said the City will have to provide alternative accommodation before it can evict.
Community representatives say people residing on the land are mostly unemployed, rely on government support grants and have nowhere else to go.
Victoria Mlangeni, a widow, has been living on the site with her four children and three grandchildren for the past year. Despite several demolitions of her shack after which she sometimes had to sleep in the open, she has rebuilt each time as soon as she could afford building materials again.
"We fetch water from nearby houses just to be able to cook and wash our clothes. The government should include us in its plans to build RDP houses on the land because as citizens of this country, we also deserve houses," said Mlangeni.
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Ayanda Ntuli said the municipality promised to give her a house years ago because she has a disability (she is hearing-impaired).
"Where does the City want us to go? To me, this place has become home and it would be unfair for them to remove us," she said.
The matter was postponed to 12 November to allow the families to file an answering affidavit.
