Tshwane demolishes shacks, evicts land invaders

From the SA Press Association

The City of Tshwane has over the weekend been dismantling shacks built illegally on government land in region seven, the office of the regional executive director said on Sunday.

The evictions began on Saturday with eight shacks removed, while others removed their shacks voluntarily, with the removals to continue on Monday, spokesman July Nkutha said.

Police were called in to help with the evictions.

"Today [Sunday] there was a public meeting addressed by the Chief Whip Councillor Jabu Mabona and Acting Speaker of Council Councillor Joe Mkhize," he said.

They told residents that their shacks would be removed, with more than 600 shacks having invaded the land.

Region seven was in the east of Pretoria, covering Bronkhorstspruit, Zithobeni, Ekangala, Rethabiseng, Sokhulumi and surrounding farms.

The removals were unrelated to the land invasions that took place in Nellmapius a couple of weeks ago, with Nellmapius forming part of region six, said Nkutha.