Husain Mohamed – 19/08/2020  

Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management Tasneem Motara says additional resources will be deployed for Police to deal with Land invasions in Lenasia and other parts of Gauteng. The plan seeks to fight the mushrooming of informal settlements and illegal land invasions.

This comes after Motara along with Gauteng’s Cooperative Governance MEC Lebogang Maile, Community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko and Johannesburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo addressed Lenasia residents on Monday on the recent land grabs in the area.

Region G which includes Lenasia, Lenasia South and surrounding areas has been a hot spot for illegal land invasions for the past few years. Community members are frustrated and have raised their concerns on numerous occasions.

MEC Motara told Radio Islam that work will be done to evict illegal settlers, however this can only be done after the lockdown.

“The regulations don’t allow us to evict, and I think unfortunately this is what allowed this criminal activity to go on.”

While addressing the Lenasia community on Monday, Cooperative Governance MEC Lebogang Maile said 1,500 community patrollers will be deployed throughout Gauteng to known hot spots over the next three months in order to discourage land invasion.

Listen to the full interview with MEC Tasneem Motara here: