The civil rights organisation AfriForum has come to the assistance of the Elandsfontein community, south of Johannesburg, to help remove over 500 land grabbers who had started illegally appropriating pieces of land, marking out hundreds of pieces of land and erecting structures. The land grabbers and the illegal structures they erected have been removed.
This follows after AfriForum obtained an order last week in the Northern Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to support the community of Elandsfontein in removing the illegal land grabbers.
“In this instance we utilised a different approach than usual to such matters. The Midvaal Municipality and the Democratic Alliance (DA) teamed up to assist us, alongside the JMPD, SAPS and the SANDF. It was encouraging to receive such a wide range of support, and AfriForum gladly works alongside those who want to support us as we assist communities being targeted by illegal land grabbers. AfriForum will not allow land grabbers to intimidate people and threaten their property rights with their lawless actions,” says Ian Cameron, AfriForum’s Head of Community Safety.
“This situation has once again shown the importance of landowners knowing their rights and having contingency plans at hand for in case their land were to be targeted by illegal land grabbers. Land grabs need to be reported as soon as possible, and AfriForum is always available to receive and respond to such reports,” says Marnus Kamfer, AfriForum’s Legal and Risk Manager for Community Safety.
