Human Interest
Five arrested following land invasion in Gauteng─── 09:43 Sun, 25 Mar 2018
Five people have been arrested for malicious damage to property after they allegedly tore down a fence as part of an attempted land invasion in Midrand on Saturday.
Police spokesperson, Captain Granville Meyer, told News24 that there had been two separate incidents of attempted land invasions on Saturday, with more than 1 500 people attempting to set up shelters illegally.
Meyer said the first incident, involving over 500 individuals, had taken place at a piece of land that belonged to Wits University in Marlboro, near the Far East Bank Drive and Gautrain bridge intersection.
A large group of people, the majority of whom are believed to have come from nearby Alexandra, gathered opposite the KFC on Marlboro Drive, and were seen filling in forms handed out by people wearing Economic Freedom Fighters regalia, to claim parcels of land.
“Peace, Land and Bread! All Power to the (People)”....Vladimir Lenin pic.twitter.com/9lfwnfnuGM
— @effjoburg (@effjoburg) March 23, 2018
Meyer said he could confirm that people wearing EFF regalia had been seen at the invasions, but could not comment on their roles.
Attempts to get a comment from the EFF were unsuccessful.
Gathering happening outside KFC Marlboro for land in #Frankenwald. Drive carefully. @JMPDSafety & @SAPoliceService on scene ????@TrafficSA @EWNTraffic @AsktheChiefJMPD pic.twitter.com/xl8aJylKPZ
— Kelvin Residents (@myKelvin_KRA) March 24, 2018
Meyer said the majority of these individuals had been dispersed by 14:00, after a court order had been obtained.
In a separate incident, more than one thousand people sought to invade another piece of land in Waterfall, Midrand, in the area of Allandale Road and Old Pretoria Main Road.
Meyer said in this incident five people were arrested by police for malicious damage to property, after allegedly tearing down a fence to gain access to the land where they wanted to build their shacks.
He said no shacks had been erected.
“The situation is being monitored by members of the public order policing unit and is calm, with the majority of the crowd having already left the area,” he said.
JMPD spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, confirmed Metro police were at the scene and were monitoring the situation.
