The recent public discourse surrounding the Gauteng government’s approach to informal settlements requires clarification and context.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s statements are part of a broader, necessary strategy to address urban inequality and housing backlogs in a lawful, structured manner, and in full partnership with our municipalities.
The premier’s commitment to methodically address 400 informal settlements “one at a time” is a pledge to bring order and dignity to our urban landscape. This initiative, undertaken with municipalities and their law enforcement agencies, specifically targets illegitimate settlements: new, unlawful land invasions and those occupied by undocumented foreign nationals. This is not a threat but a necessary step to protect public land, ensure public safety and uphold the rule of law for all residents of Gauteng. The provincial government’s actions are targeted and precise, not a blanket campaign against those in need.
This provincial effort aligns with established municipal processes. As outlined in Johannesburg’s draft Informal Settlement Policy, the goal is to formally recognise long-established settlements that match municipal records, while preventing new, uncontrolled occupations that strain services and compromise safety.
The policy’s proposed freeze on new registrations is a pragmatic measure to manage growth and direct resources effectively. Similarly, proposed amendments to the 2018 Land Use Management Scheme, including the creation of a “transitional informal settlement area” zone, demonstrate a commitment to incrementally upgrading suitable settlements.
The provincial strategies are designed to complement the national Upgrading of Informal Settlement Programme, which is currently under review. This is not an attempt to pre-empt its outcome, but rather to take essential proactive steps to address an urgent crisis.
There is nothing unconstitutional about this approach, which is undertaken in the best interest of sustainable urban development. It seeks to balance compassion with responsibility, ensuring that limited resources are allocated to planned, safe, and permanent housing solutions rather than being endlessly diverted to address unlawful occupations.
The provincial government is committed to engaging all stakeholders to build a Gauteng where every resident can live in dignity and safety. However, it is also adamant that the challenges of historic land dispossession and modern issues such as migratory trends and unaffordable housing must be tackled in a manner that is both fair and lawful.
It is disingenuous to compare the current government’s efforts to stop land invasions to apartheid-era forced removals, which were conducted with impunity; this is a clear case of false equivalency. Since the 1994 democratic breakthrough, protections for unlawful dwellers and informal settlement residents have increased significantly. The province has unequivocally committed to ensuring all its actions are conducted within the ambit of the law, in full compliance with the Prevention of Illegal Eviction (Pie) From & Unlawful Occupation of Land Act of 1998.
Stopping illegal land invasions is not the criminalisation of the poor; to the contrary, it is about their protection. It creates a fair system where those who have been patiently and legally waiting their turn on the housing and services waiting list are not pushed aside by those who use shortcuts. The criminal syndicates that facilitate these illegal invasions expand their control over the settlements by offering unauthorised services, which leads to the extortion of these vulnerable communities.
The removal of illegal informal settlements is nothing less than an administrative decision to introduce a controlled human settlement framework. This framework enables local authorities to plan for proper development where the safety and security of tenure for residents can be guaranteed. While it might be tempting to encourage people to disregard laws that criminalise actions like illegal squatting on the grounds of necessity for survival, this can have far-reaching consequences. In a lawless society, it is invariably the poor who are the worst affected.
Without the rule of law the vulnerable lose protection from exploitation, violence and fraud. They are not guaranteed safety over the little property they have; their communities become prey to exploitative syndicates or armed gangs rather than being policed by accountable agencies; and any avenues for peaceful redress through the courts vanish.
Ultimately, a breakdown of law does not create freedom for the poor; it merely replaces the perceived tyranny of the state with the more immediate and brutal tyranny of the strong over the weak.
• Pamla is Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s spokesperson.
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