The metro’s cash-flow challenges are well-documented. The DA and others doubt it can develop the new neighbourhood adequately.

Addressing the Lourier Park issues during a media briefing on Monday (9/2), Mangaung Mayor Gregory Nthatisi outlined the municipality’s intentions to relocate residents to what he described as habitable areas.

When people illegally occupied land near Lourier Park called Mountain View before the 2024 national elections, it became a flashpoint in the Free State’s ongoing housing crisis. Thousands of people in desperate need of land flocked into the area, prompting legal action and a court-ordered eviction.

The DA in Mangaung, through a successful urgent application in the Bloemfontein High Court, compelled the metro to remove what it described as illegal land invaders using the Red Ants.

“Deliberately, the municipality, amongst other areas it has identified Lourierpark (to give land to residents). Because Lourierpark, a township development, was made, it is not just an area. 

‘Take them from where they are dying to a place where at least there is life’

“We are making sure that proper urban areas are created. Your question relates to whether we have the money. 

“By standard, we must put infrastructure into the area so that the area is habitable for our people. But because money is not there, some of you are not paying for your services. 

“It is that money from the services that we must utilise, but it does not mean when we don’t have money, we can’t use what we call the rudimentary method or temporary method to accommodate our people. To take them from where they are dying (due to an unhealthy environment) to a place where at least there is life,” he said.

The metro had put plans in motion to place people on land where they would not face removal, while development and habitation progressed simultaneously, added Nthatisi.

In his opening remarks, Nthatisi acknowledged a severe housing backlog. At least 79,000 people need proper housing, including 5,000 in Bloemfontein, 13,000 in Botshabelo, and 12,000 in Thaba Nchu, while the rest are spread over outlying areas, including Dewetsdorp.

Meanwhile, pictures taken at the Lourier Park informal have shown work is already underway. Toilet structures have been erected, gravel roads are being created, and additional informal structures continue to appear, suggesting ongoing occupation of the land.

Clear warnings

The DA has since approached the High Court in Bloemfontein to interdict what it claims urgently is an unlawful land occupation. The party argued that the municipality has failed to provide assurances that it will halt activities that facilitate the occupation of land that remains unserviced and is subject to an existing court order declaring it unsuitable for human settlement.

“Despite clear warnings,” said DA Cllr Greg van Noord, “evidence under oath previously presented by municipal officials, and an interim High Court order granted in March 2024 confirming the absence of bulk services, the municipality has continued to conduct activities that reasonably create the impression that occupation is being enabled.

“This includes land preparation activities and the creation of informal access routes where no bulk water, electricity, or sewerage infrastructure exists. This is a matter of the ANC metro, adding another informal settlement of people to the 52 others in Mangaung, where residents have been waiting for the dignity of basic services for years.”

The DA’s High Court application seeks to interdict any unlawful occupation and compel the municipality to comply with its constitutional, statutory, and court-imposed obligations regarding access to adequate housing. Nthatisi, however, dismissed the DA’s legal challenge, saying the metro would defend its position in court. 

“The area we are talking about is that township establishment has been worked upon, and perks are there. People don’t have the money to build those houses instantly. 

“The government still has to budget to build those houses, but those places are habitable.” Relocation was necessary to improve living conditions, he said. “(It’s) better to keep our people there than to leave them in waterlog where they are swimming each time it is raining, where there are no roads, where they cannot even have an ablution facility.

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“Where we are taking them, we will be able to put an ablution facility, we are able to provide them with water, we’ve got rudimentary roads, and they are able to reach wherever they are going. Call it informal if you want, but we are formalising it.”

The metro has begun the first phase of providing land to residents in Lourier Park. Phase two will be implemented in Botshabelo, after which the programme will be extended to Dewetsdorp, confirmed human settlements MMC Ntombi Nhlapho.

The metro has cautioned, however, that only individuals registered with the municipality will qualify for land allocation, warning that those who occupy land unlawfully will face legal consequences.

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OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi mvh