Public works minister Dean Macpherson has promised to deal with the unlawful invasion of state-owned land in Knoflokskraal near Grabouw in the Western Cape.
What started as the slow erection of structures on the land in 2020 during the height of Covid-19 has resulted in a population of between 15,000 and 20,000 people sharing about 4,000 structures. The land, intended for forestry, was occupied by a group declaring they are reclaiming it as ancestral land of the indigenous Khoi people.
Macpherson said peaceful engagement, law enforcement efforts and a five-year long legal wrangle have not yielded results. As a consequence, he is establishing the case as a ministerial priority project under a strategic and special delivery unit in the office of the director-general.
Since his ministerial appointment in 2024, he said he has made Knoflokskraal a personal priority.
“I was not prepared to accept a situation where the rule of law was repeatedly broken, where state land was being unlawfully occupied, and where the government simply continued to drift without a clear plan. That is why this matter was elevated so it could receive focused oversight, urgent attention and direct accountability.”
However, the department did not arrive at the decision without having engaged the affected stakeholders.
According to the minister, they have gone through “extraordinary efforts” to resolve the matter through engagement.
“I say extraordinary deliberately because it is not common for a minister to be personally involved at this level of operational detail in relation to a single site. Yet that is exactly what I did here. I personally drove this process because I wanted to ensure every possible avenue for a lawful, peaceful and negotiated solution was fully exhausted before stronger measures were taken.”
The minister also revealed an agreement was reached after meetings with the Knoflokskraal community task team and the department late last year, but, according to Macpherson, it was not honoured.
“The government took a deliberate decision to engage directly in pursuit of a negotiated solution that would allow containment and social facilitation to proceed in a structured and lawful way. We engaged extensively and those engagements ultimately resulted in an in-principle agreement to enter into a social compact agreement, via a letter dated December 5 2025. That was an important breakthrough because it suggested there was a lawful pathway forward that could balance engagement with the restoration of order. But that agreement was not honoured. Instead of moving the process forward, it introduced objections and demands that made implementation impossible.”
Macpherson said it was regrettable that the “other side” reneged on the understanding despite government negotiating and reaching an understanding in good faith
“Government came to that process willing to engage, willing to listen and willing to find a lawful and peaceful way forward. But engagement cannot be allowed to become a mechanism to delay action indefinitely while unlawful occupation expands, intimidation continues and the rule of law continues to erode.
“At some point, government has to conclude it has acted in good faith, that it has gone further than would ordinarily be expected, and that the broader public interest now requires decisive action.”
He announced the department will embark on a containment campaign.
“If the state is serious about stopping further unlawful expansion, those access points must be formalised and controlled. Containment is therefore the first necessary step. The department will also implement aerial and on-site mapping to establish a clear and accurate picture of conditions within Knoflokskraal. This includes the use of technology to map structures, monitor movement and understand the extent of activity on the site. This step is necessary because, at present, there are areas where we do not have full visibility or access due to security issues.”
Macpherson said this would be followed up by a social facilitation process.
“That process will include the profiling of residents, the mapping of structures, the development of a community profile, the collection of demographic and socio-economic information, engagement with leadership and stakeholders, the identification of groupings on the site, the assignment of identifiers to structures, and the documentation of any cultural or heritage-based claims.”
TimesLIVE
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