EFF says it will back Thornville residents who face eviction by Eskom for illegally occupying land

The EFF in KwaZulu-Natal says it will support Thornville residents who illegally built homes on land owned by Eskom.

The power utility has obtained a court order to demolish more than 150 homes illegally built on its land in Pietermaritzburg.

The Pietermaritzburg High Court on July 14 issued Eskom with an order to demolish the houses, which the residents built after paying between R5,000 and R10,000 per plot.

The residents, including elderly people, built homes on plots of land they bought from dubious sellers, who have no authority over the Eskom land. 

The court had granted Eskom the right to give the dwellers 72 hours’ notice of its intention to demolish the houses. However, occupants were also granted until September 15 to appeal against the order on an urgent basis-no appeal was filed.

The land in question is along the R56 highway near the Thornville police station.  

The court ordered that the dwellers demolish their houses within 48 hours. 

The court had also ordered the sheriff to execute the order in the company of the police. 

EFF provincial spokesperson Chris Msibi said although the homeowners were wrong in buying land that did not belong to the sellers, Eskom should have acted immediately when it realised that houses were about to be built.

Eskom said it went to court before any houses could be built. 

Eskom’s subsidiary, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), which is responsible for the land, said it was obliged to safeguard its property and electricity infrastructure.  

“The properties acquired are for strategic future grid expansion projects, and due to the high voltage being transmitted by the transmission lines in the area, it is not safe for residential occupation,” said NTCSA in its response. 

"The court application was launched before the houses were built and the surrounding community was sensitised."

The NTCSA said Eskom does not compensate individuals for structures demolished on its property because such structures are unlawful and erected without consent.

“Compensation would contravene public finance and procurement laws, and it would undermine the rule of law and create inequitable precedents,” the NTCSA said.

Msibi said the EFF, which had been calling on people to occupy unused private and state land, would assess whether the residents were properly informed about their right to be represented in court and if they were properly represented by lawyers. 

He also called for the arrest of those who had sold the plots to the residents. 

“Those people (residents) should write affidavits so that the people (who sold the land) can be arrested. 

“In land expropriation without compensation, we don’t encourage buying land, but all we are saying is that people must occupy unused land, and that the only land that must not be occupied is the land that is productive,” said Msibi. 

He said if the land was reserved for the expansion of the electricity substation, Eskom should have properly fenced it and clearly marked it as its land.   

He said the EFF would establish if Eskom cannot negotiate with residents and reach a compromise. 

Two men who have been identified as selling the land to unsuspecting residents have denied being involved or accepting the purchase money. 

One of them said he would meet with the resident to establish why they are implicating him. 

“Those people are running away from the truth,” he said. 

“I have nothing to do with the sale of that land."

Residents who reside in a village alongside the Eskom property, blamed those who are facing eviction, saying they ignored a number of warnings. 

“They did it deliberately because they were warned not to build on the property,” said one resident.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za