Eviction notices issued to occupants of hijacked State properties
Two properties in Goodwood and Khayelitsha, meant for use by the South African Police Service (SAPS), have been hijacked and are illegally occupied.
Operation Bring Back
Zikalala issued the eviction notices while leading Operation Bring Back (OBB) in Cape Town on Sunday, 31 August.
Operation Bring Back is a nationwide campaign led by DPWI Deputy Minister, Sihle Zikalala, and its intended purpose is to recover all stolen State land and property. Some of these properties include those that are vacated by user departments without being brought back to the department, and have become vulnerable to illegal occupation.
As a result, some are run down due to overcrowding and dilapidation and lack of management by State institutions that were allocated the buildings.
During this Cape Town leg of Operation Bring Back campaign, many whistle-blowers came forward and others physically brought evidence to the Deputy Minister of stolen properties by even commercial entities and NGOs.
The Goodwood property Zikalala first visited is a residential property that was donated to the asset portfolio of government by patriotic citizen, the late Clair Shelly Boulton, to be used by the South African Police Service.
In her will, Boulton clearly stated that the property must be used by the SAPS for fighting drug abuse in the community. The property has since been hijacked and is believed to be used as a drug peddling den against the will of Boulton, who donated the property.
Illegal occupants have invaded the property and have erected temporal structures. Currently there are 12 illegal occupants including children. There is allegedly rampant substance abuse including drugs in the property.
The second property visited is the 946.90 Ha on Stellenbosch Road, near Khayelitsha, which was allocated for mixed use by SAPS, including residential accommodation, public order policing, stock theft, anti-gang and shooting range.
The farm was used to accommodate SAPS officials, many of who have since left after being deployed to other areas, leaving many of the houses vacant.
The farm has vast land, which has been illegally occupied and informal settlements proliferation is taking place.
Desperate state
Zikalala’s visit has revealed a huge problem of hijacked State properties not only by the poor and people desperate for houses but by big commercial entities, NGOs and those posing as owners and collecting rent money from illegal occupiers.
Failure to comply with the eviction notices, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said, will result in legal action.
“Clearly the problem of illegally occupied, hijacked and stolen government properties is extensive and underestimated. We are seeing a strong element of poor management of State assets that are handed over to client departments that do not hand them back the department [when they vacate them],” said Zikalala.
Zikalala will be intensifying Operation Bring Back in the coming months. A support programme, which includes the appointment of property specialists, has been developed to identify, audit, analyse, evict and recover illegally occupied and hijacked buildings.
The focus is on all buildings that are supposed to be in the immovable asset register of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
In carrying out evictions of land and buildings by an unauthorised occupants, the department follows legal processes, including the Prevention of Illegal Eviction (PIE) from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, 19 of 1998, which regulates the eviction of unlawful occupiers from land and property in a fair manner, while recognising the right of landowners to apply to a court for an eviction order in appropriate circumstances.