More than 300 beneficiaries of Gauteng human settlements' serviced stands programme are stuck with certificates of allocation and cannot start building after the land they were given was illegally occupied.
In January, the department gave 316 people from the Vaal certificates with actual stand numbers confirming that they would benefit from government's Ikageleng land release programme.
Beneficiaries also attended a workshop where they were informed what kind of structures they would be required to build on the land and the time they have to build.
Thabang Mokoena, 33, of Zone 13 in Sebokeng said they were promised they could move into their stands in two weeks but they have never heard from the department again.
“We realised that actually the land which has been allocated to us has long been invaded. People built mansions on the land,” he said.
Mokoena said the delay has been stressing him because his is now unable to realise his dream of owning property.
“I live in a family home with four of my cousins and my uncle. I don’t have my own privacy to raise my children.
“It has always been my dream to have a house of my own. It is more than a blessing because it is not something you have inherited but you have built yourself as a man. With my own house, I know that my children will not be fighting with my siblings for the house. They will know that this one was built by their father from scratch,” he said.
Mokoena applied for a stand in 2019 and was approved last year.
He was retrenched in May 2020 and planned to use the little he got to build a house for himself and his three children aged 11, 7 and 4.
“I have never owned a home. My parents never owned a home. I was going to be the first person in my family to hold a title deed. If I do not get back the land to build for my children, I would have failed while having something written in black and white that says I have a property.”
Another beneficiary, Paballo Molefi, grew up in Sebokeng and shared the same sentiment.
“I want to own my own property because I am not employed. I work piece jobs in the construction sector. I have been applying for an RDP for years with no breakthrough. But when I applied for stands I got approved.
“I have saved enough money to start building a three-roomed house,” he said.
Molefi lives with his partner and their two young children in a four-roomed house in Sebokeng.
Gauteng human settlements department said it is aware of the illegal occupation of the land and the department had secured an interdict against occupants in 2019.
“Despite the order having been obtained people have continued to build structures and subsequently took occupation of those structures.
“The department has therefore begun the process of engaging those invaders as required in terms of the PIE [Prevention of Illegal Eviction] Act and as part of a build-up towards initiating a court application for eviction and demolition of unlawful invaders and illegal structures,” said department spokesperson Tahir Sema.
When asked about the delay in removing the illegal occupants, Sema said the department did not have the necessary resources in 2019 to conduct the evictions and in 2020/2021 it was affected by Covid-19 regulations which did not allow evictions.
Sowetan visited Beverly Hills where people have illegally built on government land.
Residents refused to speak on record saying the issue of their occupation of land is “too complicated”.
One of the residents said he arrived in the development a few years ago. He said he was allocated the stand by Andrew Molifi at a cost of R22,000.
“I believed him because he was carrying a document with a letterhead from the department of human settlements. He gave me a proof of payment,” he said.
He said he spent R400,000 building his home.
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