GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Dr Beyers Naude Municipality DA Councillor, Sakkie van Zyl, has opened a fraud case against a local ANC councillor who allegedly pretended to act on behalf of the municipality and instigated the illegal invasion of municipal land.
The case was opened last week, Monday 5 June, following the municipality's publication of a notice in this regard the previous Monday.
Municipality
The municipality stated that they are aware of certain community members' intention to occupy municipal land situated between Merino- and Aster Streets in Kroonvale. It stated that a councillor and certain ward committee members allegedly encouraged residents to do so. In the published notice on 29 May on their Facebook page, the municipality stated that they are distancing themselves from these unlawful activities. The municipality warned that they will be approaching the High Court to prevent this unlawful occupation.
DA
The DA stated that they have a voice note in which the ANC councillor urged members of the community to take possession of the municipal land to construct houses - the voice note was circulated on social media.
The DA further stated that they are aware that the ANC councillor convened a community meeting in which he urged residents to complete application forms for plots on the identified municipal land.
For this reason, DA Chief Whip, Ricardo Smith, wrote to Cheslin Felix, speaker of the municipality, to request an urgent investigation into the ANC councillor for allegedly contravening the code of conduct.
Samantha Graham-Maré, DA MP and Dr Beyers Naude Constituency Leader, also wrote to Zolile Williams, MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to request him to consider suspending the councillor pending the finalisation of the investigation.
In addition, DA Caucus Chairperson, Joy Williams, wrote to the municipal manager, Dr Edward Rankwana, to urge his administration to take the necessary action to protect the land from unlawful occupation. The municipality already cautioned community members to refrain from occupying the land since it is not serviced and utilising it is illegal. According to Graham-Maré there has been no feedback from any of the parties to whom they have written.
ANC Councillor
Graaff-Reinet Advertiser approached the ANC councilor in question for comment, but he stated that he has not been charged and has not received any correspondence from anyone. He undertook to issue a press statement in the event of this happening.
Sias Smith, convener of the People for Basic Rights (P4BR), said he is deeply disappointed by the situation. "Political parties are playing chess with people's poverty," says Smith.
"The land in question has been vacant ever since I was a child. I am talking about 60 years. How can it be allowed that land remain vacant for so long and turn into illegal dumping site when there is such a dire need for housing?" Some residents believe the illegal invasion is justified as the government's failure to address the housing crisis has given rise to the situation.
Regarding this, Graham-Maré said unlawful occupation cannot be supported under any circumstances. "While people are expressing support for the action due to the inaction of the government in providing houses, it is important that poverty cannot justify illegality."
The DA said they will be requesting the Department of Human Settlements to urgently brief Council on the status of housing projects to address the housing crisis in the municipality. Graham-Maré said the allocation of houses must be done fairly and legally. She explained that illegal invasions lead to the establishment of informal settlements.
People living in these settlements then start putting pressure on the municipality to deliver services. If the municipality wants to move them, they have to relocate them.
This means they get some form of housing they are not entitled to because other people are on the waiting list before them.
"Aside from the fact that this is a massively unfair way of queue jumping, you are now putting people onto a site where there are no services, there's no nothing. The municipality has not budgeted for it, so they have to take money out of their budget that has been allocated for other service delivery. It's just not right and it's not fair. I have a fundamental issue with this and that is why we will fight it," said Graham-Maré.
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