Gauteng is praised for dealing decisively with land-grabbing syndicates, but the Democratic Alliance-led City of Cape has been ‘vilified’, challenged repeatedly in court and been accused of racism and being anti-poor for its attempts ‘to prevent the incessant and orchestrated land invasions’.
So said Democratic Party (DA) spokesperson on public works and infrastructure Samantha Graham-Maré.
She warned that every city and town was at risk of ‘losing vast parcels of land to land grabbers’, but a concerted effort to prevent this ‘cannot be realized as long as the ANC and its cohorts continue with an “us and them” narrative against the DA-led City of Cape Town’.
‘Our country is under threat. Now is not the time to be scoring political points,’ she said.
The DA would ask the South African Local Government Association to take the lead arranging a discussion to find solutions ‘as a matter of urgency’.
‘There can be no greater example of the hypocrisy that exists in South Africa around governance by the DA versus that of the ANC than in the current land invasions crisis,’ Graham-Maré said.
‘While the DA-led City of Cape Town has been vilified, hit with court case after court case and accused of racism and being anti-poor in its attempts to prevent the incessant and orchestrated land invasions taking place throughout the city, the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Province are being hailed for their decisive action in dealing with land-grabbing syndicates.’
She said that, in the Western Cape High Court judgment last week, the City of Cape Town and its Anti-Land Invasion Unit were interdicted from performing any evictions without a court order.
‘Less than a week later, the Gauteng MEC, Lebogang Maile, has unleashed an army of 1 500 community patrollers and the City of Johannesburg has proudly launched its own Anti-Land Invasion Unit. And unsurprisingly, there is no sign of the South African Human Rights Commission or the Social Justice Coalition and their outrage. Why the double standards?’
She warned: ‘It is time that all Metros and Local Municipalities recognise and acknowledge that the problem of land invasions is getting worse and unless a coordinated and multi-pronged strategy is developed to address this scourge, every city and town is at risk of losing vast parcels of land to land grabbers.’