Umamah Bakharia 

After a court bid was granted on Tuesday, law enforcement and security personnel evicted land invaders in Lenasia, Extension 13. Following reports, land invaders have taken over an unoccupied building without authorisation.

Lethal Forces, Shahim Ismail says neighbours were complaining of disturbances, therefore they had to act on protecting the community.

“Its about entitlement, they feel they can walk in here and take ownership of this property,” says Ismail who has been carrying out the eviction with his team.

Approximately, 3 months ago a residential development in Ext. 13 was invaded by the “youth” group on grounds that the developers of the 84-unit residential building were built without community engagement.

On behalf of the developers, ARM Attorneys then filed an urgent application at the courts in March to have the invaders removed from the unoccupied building.

However, the group appealed the application, but the courts ruled in favour of the developers as they had legally procured the building. “They have no right to occupy the property, it’s privately owned land and there’s basically no grounds that they can rely on ,” says ARM Attorney Eesa Ahmed.

“We were not consulted on the project,” says the group as they watched their belongings removed from the building. Based on the court documents that were seen by Radio Islam, it is alleged that the group were selling flats in the building for R2 000.

So far, no indication has been given on when the building project will be completed now that the owners have regained access to it.