Land grabbing is something that was unheard of in the rural areas, but after calls were made to occupy available land by leaders of some political parties, the tendency is beginning to escalate even to rural areas.
Not long ago, residents of Thohoyandou Block F under Thulamela Municipality invaded all the available empty spaces and demarcated sites for themselves. Residents of Shayandima Zone 1 next to the industrial site have joined the trend and have taken over a wide space of land that has not been used for ages.
The residents have vowed to occupy the vacant land that has been lying idle for a long time with no development taking place there. Residents, who are mostly youths, said that they had waited for far too long for the municipality to solve the issue of crime and to demarcate the area for residential purposes.
Recently, hundreds of them armed with spades, picks, lashers and other working tools descended on the area between P & L Hardware and Freddy's, just at the entrance to Shayandima. The Shayandima Zone 1 Concerned Group leader, Mr Godfrey Ndonyane, said the bushy area had become a haven for criminals, with many reports of people being attacked and robbed of their belongings, as well as rapes and other crimes committed there.
"We have made many presentations to the municipality about this area, urging them to demarcate it as a residential area. We were told this area has been sold and our investigations have not shown any ownership of the piece of land. We are tired of waiting to have sites. Criminals are using this land, so we are determined to occuppy this area and make it safer again," he said.
Ndonyane further indicated that they had taken a resolution to clear the area and had already arranged with an expert who would demarcate residential sites for them.
"Our actions are peaceful and we even hired a TLB grader to help in clearing the bushes; not long from now, this area will be safe again. We also asked the local fire station to come and be on standby to monitor the fires."
He added that they were not fighting against anybody. "We are grown-up people and would like to have places of our own; this is the area and nothing will stop us from occupying this area," added Ndonyane.
Meanwhile, Thulamela Mayor Mushoni Tshifhango warned residents to desist from interfering with municipal land, saying that doing so was illegal. He said that the land in question was private property. They were also concerned that it was taking a long time to be developed, he said.
"We will not allow lawlessness in our municipality, and we urge our residents to follow the right procedure in acquiring land," said Tshifhango.