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Mention the words ‘land invasion’ in this country, and people tend to take notice.

The City of Cape Town’s mayor, Dan Plato, says that land invasions “pose a serious threat to service delivery and housing opportunities as it derails planning and development processes”, which is why the City is looking at introducing new laws.

In addition, the City will increase its specialised anti-land invasion unit, releasing a statement yesterday announcing a further 40 members of the Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU).

More below via BusinessTech:

The unit now has a total number of 94 permanent staff members. The ALIU will also soon welcome the arrival of special (hardened) vehicles that will be able to deal with public violence and protest action enabling officers to more effectively protect city property, it said.

“The city is in the process of developing legislation that will more effectively deal with the illegal occupation of land, including a policy that will underpin such legislation. This will put us in a better position to deal with persons who engage in or orchestrate land invasion activity and hold them accountable for their actions,” [Plato, above] said.

Plato said that the additional staff will allow the unit to be operational on a 24-hour basis, using a shift rotational work schedule.

It is hoped that the bolstered numbers will mean that rather than only responding to incidents retroactively, the unit can now monitor so-called ‘hotspots’, follow up on complaints, and help the SAPS out where needed, particularly with regards criminal investigations.

The City has come under fire recently for its treatment of the homeless, and Plato in particular, so there will probably be some backlash from activists who feel that enough is not being done to solve that problem, with resources directed elsewhere.

The city’s mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, who was also named in the contempt of the court order referred to above, had this to say:

“Increasing the capacity of this important unit will allow the City to protect its property against illegal land occupiers…

In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of illegal land invasions and attempted invasions, as well as an increase in violence associated with the resultant protests, including the senseless destruction of city infrastructure and damage to private property. The recent violence in Du Noon is testament to this.”

The destruction of property we see time and time again in this country is counterintuitive at best, but the people are angry.

Those entrusted with preventing future land invasions are certainly going to have their hands full.

[source:businesstech]