The Star: Violent protests amid claims of land grab

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Violent protests amid claims of land grab
23 July 2009, 06:19
Fiery and violent protests have left scores hospitalised amid allegations of Zimbabwe war vets-style land grabs taking place.

A community have also been dumped in the veld surrounded by their meagre belongings.

More than 20 people were injured and at least 20 arrested when residents of Pielie’s Farm near Meyerton, 20km south of Joburg, protested along the R59 highway between Joburg and Vereeniging yesterday.

Heavily armed police finally dispersed the crowd, who fled into the informal settlement about 400m from the highway.

While shots rang out around them, a group of about 30 women and children took shelter in the local church, where they’ve been given refuge from the bitter Highveld winter.

“I’m just trying to protect what I have. There’s nowhere for us to go,” said Maria Dywili, huddling in the church with her two children.

On Tuesday, about 250 people, some of them claiming to be MK war veterans, attempted to invade Pielie’s Farm, said Midvaal mayor Timothy Nast.

“We immediately alerted the Red Ants to remove the illegal structures from the farm, which lies next to the new multimillion-rand Heineken brewery,” said the mayor.

He said the illegal invaders’ actions were supported by the Sedibeng District Municipality, which provided container homes. When the local council tried to intervene by deploying the Red Ants, they were stopped by the police.

“This is a sad day for South Africa as there is now proof that the ANC is using the same tactics as Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF did in Zimbabwe. Clearly, property rights in our country are no longer guaranteed,” said Nast.

When The Star arrived at the scene of the protest action yesterday morning, a line of police backed up by two Nyala armoured vehicles chased a group of 300 protesters into the Pielie’s Farm settlement.

As they went after the protesters into the maze of shacks, they fired at point-blank range at anybody lingering outside.

Residents of Pielie’s Farm said the protest came after 20 families were evicted by the Red Ants from Beers Farm, 5km up the road, a month ago.

The families were moved to another ward but were chased away by local residents who accused them of being there to steal their houses. The families were dumped at Pielie’s Farm last week.

At the site of where the residents of Beers Farm used to live, in an area called Settlement Valley, the ground is littered with rubble.

Two tattered couches have been pushed together and a metal sheet placed on top to provide a makeshift shelter for a bitch that recently gave birth to two pups. A plastic drum half filled with water, shattered TVs and radios, and shards from ceramic vases bore testimony to the unexpected removals.

Pieces of asbestos protruding from the ground, a red school jersey, and a clothesline bore witness to a home that once stood here.

Fana Magalimele, 29, wandered through the remains of the place where he has lived his entire life. He grew up in the farmworkers’ quarters and later built his own asbestos-sheet shack.

“I was at work when I got the call that they were demolishing our homes,” Magalimele said.

Nast said the council had tried to get the 20 families separated from the rest of the illegal invaders in order to provide them with temporary accommodation. Instead, they were being used as bargaining chips by the larger group, led by war vets, to demand housing on Pielie’s Farm, he said.

Meanwhile, people from Beers Farm have been sleeping in the veld, left to guard their meagre belongings.

“If we hadn’t done this, we would not have got the attention of the media, the mayor, the premier or even the president,” said Xabiso Sifingo, 25.

* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on July 23, 2009