Opinion piece in The Star on land grabbing in Protea Glen, Soweto

Last Wednesday's May 16th edition of The Star newspaper published my opinion piece on the recent spate of land grabbing in Protea Glen which is in my Soweto constituency.

I visited the area and saw that the police and local homeowners had managed to deter the invaders from taking possession of the land. There were remnants of burned tyres and other objects used to block the roads which had been placed their by residents trying to protect their properties.

The issues are complex and more nuanced than many commentators like to think. This was a case of landless members of the Naledi community invading private land adjacent to a bonded house development. where homeowners took offence at the prospect of an informal, unserviced settlement taking root and reducing the value of their hard-earned property.

You can read the article below.

Recent days have seen aggressive protest action erupt in Protea Glen in Johannesburg. These protests were in response to an attempted land invasion, where residents living in bonded houses in the area are retaliating against a land grab from residents of nearby Naledi.

The protests lay bare the ANC failures that have led us to this point, where desperation is making land expropriation, and land grabbing, look like a justifiable act. While in certain circumstances land expropriate can be justified, invading property is illegal and must be stopped when it occurs otherwise we will be living a state of anarchy.

As in countless other areas, the ANC government has failed to realise land redistribution and many South Africans, who are still trapped in poverty, are tired of waiting. Spurred on by populist rhetoric and the uncertainty around land expropriation without compensation, people are now grabbing land, seemingly more than ever before.

However, for those South Africans who have managed to buy homes, despite the harsh economic climate we face, the risk that their investment would be devalued by a successful land grab and subsequent informal settlement is real. These are people who are trying to provide for their families and pave the way for their children through investing in a home; an asset that allows security as well as future opportunity.

The land grabbers in Protea Glen expect the neighbouring home owners to pay for their services, electrify, sanitation and water, out of their own pockets through illegal connections. It is easy to understand why they protested and chased the land grabbers away.

Angry after decades of poor delivery by the ANC, here in Joburg, people are now looking at DA Mayor Herman Mashaba to instantaneously fix a service delivery backlog that extends well into the billions. While he is doing his best, broader housing delivery simply won’t happen overnight. With the ANC National Government cutting money for the City of Joburg that is meant to be used to build houses, this problem simply gets worse.

The ANC’s failures have led us to this place, where South Africans feel the need to fight one another because of competing interests. The ANC has brought to this point by failing to create opportunities for jobs and start-up businesses which would provide the income required for the landless to invest in a property of their own.

The ANC created this scarcity that is making South Africans desperate to survive.

Looking in the rear-view mirror and blaming the ANC does not help us move forward. The DA-led City of Joburg is trying to pick up the pieces and accelerate access to housing opportunities. We simply have no choice but to deliver, and we are.

Thousands of title deeds are being handed out, so people can have the dignity of owning their homes. Social housing opportunities are being created, as Mayor Mashaba cleans up the inner city, so people can access low cost rental housing. Money is being spent to upgrade hostels, existing informal settlements and of course, to build RDP houses for our people.

The Protea Glen protests are the result of scarcity that has been exacerbated after years of poor ANC delivery. It is this scarcity that is dividing South Africans on the issue of land expropriation without compensation, making the case for grabbing land appear to be a good one when clearly it is not.