Outcry over Tshwane invasion as EFF Gauteng gives away ‘free land’

A land invasion conflict — seemingly sparked by a tweeted offer of “free land” in Tshwane by a political party — is now under investigation.

“The EFF in Tshwane ward 77, Oliven, is giving out land for free. Come and get land for free today,” was the offer tweeted by EFF Gauteng on Saturday, giving a councillor’s name and number as the contact. Efforts by TimesLIVE Premium to reach him on Sunday have been unsuccessful.

The offer was accompanied by photographs of land in the ward and people in the process of occupying it.

“A resident of Knoppieslaagte phoned me yesterday about the invasion of his neighbour’s land. I advised the resident to get hold of the owner of the land immediately to lodge a charge of trespassing with the police,” said MP Cilliers Brink, the DA shadow minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

He referred the matter to Crezane Bosch, DA Gauteng shadow MEC for public safety, who escalated the matter to the district police commander.

My understanding is it is private land and the owner has opened a case. The city, through the office of the MMC of public safety, is working on the issue and I will be following up with them.

—  DA councillor, Sean Cox

“I am aware of the tweet and have seen it. It is still unclear as to whether they instigated it or have jumped onto the issue to take credit for it. However, since this is private land, SAPS were waiting for a case to be opened by the land owner. This has been done, and I received the case number this afternoon and have escalated it now to the district commander, as well as the TMPD’s (Tshwane metro police department’s) land invasion unit for urgent intervention. I have shared the tweet with them and asked that action be taken,” Bosch told TimesLIVE Premium on Sunday.

Sean Cox, the DA councillor for the area, is also assisting with the matter.

“My understanding is it is private land and the owner has opened a case. The city, through the office of the MMC of public safety, is working on the issue and I will be following up with them,” Cox said.

Brink, however, said a strong stand was being taken.

“It’s not clear whether this land invasion has happened at the EFF’s instigation, or whether the party opportunistically wants to claim ‘credit’ for it. But we will be asking the police to act against the EFF person whose name was tweeted as a ‘contact’ for the land invasion. If the EFF think that land invasions are popular, they are mistaken. The majority of homeowners are black South Africans, and like all property owners, they detest this kind of lawlessness and criminality,” Brink said.

Police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili said: “SAPS is not the relevant department to comment on this.”

Senior superintendent Isaac Mahamba of TMPD did not respond to requests for comment.