People who have illegally built houses on Eskom and Ingonyama Trust land in the Richmond Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal will not be compensated for their soon to be demolished properties.

Richmond Mayor Mmelikhaya Ngcongo issued the warning as scores of owners are at risk of losing their homes, with Eskom and the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) also saying that they will not consider compensation. 

A few houses have been built on the invaded ITB land in Richmond, but there are many sites that have been prepared for the start of construction.

The ITB last month issued a press statement saying it was consulting its lawyers to approach the court to stop the invasion of its land in Richmond.

The ITB action came after Eskom had, on July 14, obtained a court order to demolish about 150 houses built on its invaded land in the Thornville area of Richmond.

Richmond Municipality is listed as the second respondent in Eskom’s court order. 

“Such transactions are not recognised by the Ingonyama Trust, and affected individuals will not be entitled to any compensation.

“To safeguard Trust land and prevent unlawful occupation, the ITB has instructed its attorneys to approach the courts for an eviction order against those who have illegally occupied the land or erected structures without authorisation,” reads the statement.

The ITB fingered Sash Ndlovu, a Richmond Municipality employee, as the person selling the land to unsuspecting buyers for up to R5,000 per site.

The ITB said Ndlovu acted without its authority, and people who paid him money illegally, did so at their own risk.

Ngcongo said before building the houses, the residents were warned that the land did not belong to the municipality or a traditional leader. 

“If they are being evicted, it is be their responsibility to find alternative land because they were told,” he said.

However, he said the municipality might only provide them with temporary structures to live in while they try to rebuild their homes elsewhere. 

“They were visited in September and told to demolish their structures, irrespective of how expensive, because they were built illegally,” said Ngcongo.

Ngcongo said that he, along with Msunduzi Municipality’s deputy mayor Mxolisi Mkhize and some councillors from both municipalities, accompanied Eskom to discuss the situation with the illegal occupants.

“We advised Eskom that ‘if this is your land, you are the one who should protect it by going to court’,” said Ngcongo.

He said it was the Richmond Municipality that alerted ITB to the invasion of its land.

“We said, ‘Please protect your land, because it seems certain people are doing as they please on the land that belongs to you’.”

Ngcongo said the municipality was concerned that people who were illegally occupying the land would later demand services from the municipality.

“It is very hard to provide services on land that does not belong to you and which has been invaded. 

“ITB came on board, approached the court and identified suspects who are behind the illegal land allocation, and we believe that they (ITB) would deal with them legally,” said Ngcongo. 

Ngcongo said the municipality has no authority to take action against Ndlovu, who is employed as a cleaner, because he had not violated his employment code of conduct. 

“Yes, he is our employee, and his managers are aware of the matter.

“His allocation of the land does not affect his work as a cleaner, but we are not in support of what he has done outside of his work,” said Ngcongo.  

One resident said her family bought the land from Ndlovu but abandoned the site after being warned that the land belonged to the ITB and not to Ndlovu. 

“My family paid R5,000 to Ndlovu, but we stopped building after the ITB warned us that what we were doing was illegal.

“But Ndlovu never returned the money to us,” said the resident.

Ndovu declined to respond to questions other than saying: “The ITB must come to take back the land, and it should come to me if it wants answers,” said Ndlovu.   

It was reported last year that 20 brick-built houses were demolished in Lehae outside Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, after their owners had bought the sites from unauthorised people and a similar incident took place in East London in 2020.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za

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