Squatter, sewage - and crime -crisis in the Cradle of Humankind

Hekpoort residents are in an epic battle to get the Mogale City Council to stop an influx of tens of thousands of apparently unemployed vagrants in the area. In this interview with BizNews, attorney Christopher Bean describes the drama surrounding the council’s building of 208 low-cost houses in an area where there was an invasion in 2019, and around which between 150 000 and 200,000 people are living in squatter camps without facilities. To add to the crisis, local residents have said that if outsiders get those houses, they’re going to burn them down. “…it’s no longer a question of providing housing for local people. It's now using this whole area to relocate thousands of people from the Krugersdorp area to another place where there's no jobs, where there's no accommodation, so they have to build shacks. There's no water, there's no sewage, there's no schools, there's no nothing.” Meanwhile, crime has spiralled with one holiday resort being hit with 12 armed robberies in 12 months. “There are about three security companies operating in this area and everybody who is on the farms is armed…”. Bean says they are hoping for a roundtable solution that will become a settlement agreement that “I know will apply in so many other cases all over the whole country….when there is this type of quote, invasion, semi-invasion, no invasion has taken place yet…have some set of rules as to who comes there, what happens when they get here, what are the facilities that we're providing, what opportunities to make a human kind of organisation rather than a squatter camp”..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..Watch here:.Listen here:.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:02.281)Hekpoort residents are in an epic battle to get the Mogale City Council to stop an influx of tens of thousands of apparently unemployed vagrants in the area. We speak to attorney Christopher Bean, who is here to talk about that legal pushback. Welcome Christopher. Chris Bean (00:29.166)How are you? Chris Steyn (00:33.833)Fine, thank you. Thank you for joining us. Please tell us how did this matter begin? Chris Bean (00:43.406)It began when somebody pointed out that there's a sewage pipe going from a housing development scheme in Hekpoort for low-cost housing and it was going straight into the Magalies River. The Magalies River flows straight into the Hartebeesport Dam and a sewage pipe, especially in light of the history of Mogale City and all their sewerage systems that have collapsed, Percy Stewart is one of them. It meant that there was going to be polluted water from sewerage going straight into the Magalies Rver alongside numerous farms and residential areas, as well as restaurants and weekend areas, wedding venues, all the way into the Hartebeespoort Dam. And that was going to have an immediate impact on the on the whole environment. We brought, the community brought an application in the High Court because we went to see Mogale City and we were told we didn't know what we were talking about and they didn't give us any information and as a result of that we eventually were forced into bringing an application to compel them to get an injunction to compel them to disclose what their intentions really were. And that unraveled a whole different can of worms. But the basic problem was the sewage. And it still is partially a problem, but it looks like it's starting to get better because of the legal pressure that's been put on them so far. Then it then turned out… Chris Steyn (02:43.472)What other issues were discovered? Chris Bean (02:41.208)The other problems were, the other issues were that in the replying papers of Mogale City, whoever the deponent was, it basically said, yes, they admitted to most of the things we said. We are building a low-cost housing property, which is in quite a sensitive area… Chris Bean (03:08.498)…because it's almost getting very close to the centre of Hekpoort and there are already, it's hard to calculate, but between 150 and 200,000 people at any given time living in squatter camps, five camps all around this new housing place. So this is the only development where Mogale City are actually building houses and the irony is that it's causing the most problems because it's blatantly going to have a sewer, which was going to have a sewerage system, which was going to pump sewerage, raw sewage, into the river in the event that their sewage system didn't work and most of their systems, if not all of their systems in Krugersdorp, don't work. So it was inevitable that there would be pollution from that. But then there were, this was a development for 208 houses; they are sort of like one-bedroom houses. I'm not sure if I haven't seen all of them but they were pretty small when I went to see them. The next thing about it was Mogale said, said, yes we are bringing these people in and there's going to be another 36,000 coming as well. Whether they're coming into that particular housing or they're in other places around this area, 36,000 people coming into a rural area where there is no employment, there's no facilities, the schools such as they are, are full. There is a clinic that is a temporary clinic where a truck arrives every week to look after patients. The facilities are… it's like transforming a small town that was built in 1850 when nobody was here except the Khoisan people. And then all of a sudden, they've now putting thousands of people into this area. it's a kind of the policy, you would have thought people would have had some idea about demographics or some kind of sociology background, because you are literally transforming and destroying the existing environment… Chris Bean (05:32.704)….and transforming it into a brand new, upgraded squatter camp. And I'll give you an example of what Gary Player put…I heard him on your programme the other day, and he said something that made a lot of sense. He said, the South African government is ruling over a nation of squatter camps; and that when you drive around and you see this country and you go to Johannesburg, it's a squatter camp that goes upwards and in rural area, it's a squatter camp that goes sideways. It just gets bigger and bigger. And the facilities, the lifestyle gets worse and worse. So, I mean... Chris Steyn (06:18.101)Now how many people, sorry Christopher, how many people are in your area in squatter camps? Can you give us an estimation please? Chris Bean (06:29.26)Okay, in our area, which also includes a little part of North-West, there's a place called Schaumburg that's within 10 kilometers of the centre of Hekpoort. That's actually in North-West. And that is what everybody is scared this place, which is called Dr. Sefularu, is going to look like. It is a place where I would say there's probably over at least well over 100,000 people. There is a lot of, there is an extraordinary amount of crime going on at the moment because most of these people do not have any work. Then there are five smaller squatter camps, which you can't always see from the road, but they're there. And it goes on to a place…at the end, which was where there was an invasion of land and also land belonging to the Railways. And...So if you say how many people I would say, you know, you can call me if I could say 200,000, you can call me a liar for one or 2000. Nobody can work it out. It's impossible to calculate. But this. Chris Steyn (07:40.799)What happened at the meeting with the MMC Krugersdorp last month? Chris Bean (07:49.218)The MMC told the community, including people who are part of the group that are bringing the application, that the whites were taking their land away and that they must take their land back. And this was supported apparently by the Mayor. And that there has been no response from the mayor. There's been no response or to say that's not correct. So perhaps it might be appropriate if I can make it very clear. We're not trying to take land from anybody. We actually want, we want the, if I can get to specifically what we're looking for, we're hoping and we will struggle and we will fight to make sure that the Mogale City Council do what they once promised in about 2010. About between 2010 and 2012 they took the list a list of names of people who were living in this area. In other words basically farm workers or people working on on this the holiday resorts etc in this area and they promised them these houses which are being built. So this one property, is the subject of the High Court action, is in fact become almost like a magnetic, it's drawn-all of the issues which relates to dumping of people, which is what we're saying is being done by Krugersdorp. They just, they take people out of sight, out of mind, let's put them in Hekpoort. And I'll get onto a moment into the fact that this is an area which is a UNESCO site as part of the Cradle of Humankind. And it's having a... Chris Bean (09:48.448)….it’s having a really significant impact. So what is happening is that the nature of the whole environment is being transformed because of a massive inflow of people. It's got nothing to do with race. It's just there's just way too many people with no facilities and nothing and they can't do anything. So I can give you one example of the impact on it. I'm not going to give the name but there is a holiday resort in Hekpoort and the owner of the resort told me that he had… Chris Bean (10:38.366)….12 armed robberies in 12 months. And this is a place where guests come on the weekend… So that kind of, I mean, you have to think about that. And there was no reason why an owner of a resort would disclose this information. And it's quite understandable why he doesn't want it to be disclosed. But I know that they were telling the truth. There is enormous crime here. There are about three security companies operating in this area and everybody that who is on the farms is armed and the things that are going on here are, it has an impact on the relationship in the communities as well. So it's a strange. It's the most beautiful place. It's probably one of the most beautiful places within 50 kilometers of Johannesburg. It's paradise. It's two huge mountains that are extraordinarily…have got so many things going on. On the other side, there's the Witwatersrand - and now we've also got Zama Zamas on the mountain. Let’s call it: It's a nightmare in heaven if I can explain it that way..Read more:.BN Briefing - Endres: Trump put a dead pig on the table; Malema: Trump wants me dead.Chris Steyn (12:07.74)Christopher, if you can't bring Mogale City to the table and this ends up in court and you do get your court order, what will happen if they don't comply? Chris Bean (12:20.974)It's an interesting question because it's quite possible that that could happen. But there is another thing called the Public Finance Management Act. It has…Section 80 is an interesting act. It would compel the City Manager or the Mayor to do a forensic audit into the transaction of this Dr. Sefalaru Project. That will result in the people involved in it… Chris Bean (13:09.102)…It’ll compel a forensic audit to take place, which is an area I'm a little more familiar with than this litigation, and where the audit will identify people who are making money out of this illegally. And that's one of the suspicions we have. And that is now leading to another problem in the area that is namely that the original promise of Mogale City was that they were going to build these houses, which they're starting to build. And it was for people who were residents of this area, Hekpoort area. Anybody outside, the local residents have said that if outsiders get these houses, which are worth a lot, and we want if they have title deeds to them, we're talking about property that could have great value to a number of people. If those houses belong to outsiders, people who don't work in here or haven't been here for at least 10 years, they're going to burn those houses down. That is a threat that has been created because of the alleged dishonesty. Now the alleged dishonesty is the paperwork of the papers that have been filed by by Mogale City. We asked for this list of people to be given to us so that we could see what was going on. And you would have thought that Mogale City, which is not exactly the most popular council in the country, would want to say, look, we are doing something for the community. We are trying to provide accommodation. We're trying to improve the livelihoods because these people can now have a house which is theirs. It's their title deed. It would be on a Sectional Title. And now we can we can improve the whole environment. Instead of that, they don't give this information. So the first question everybody asks is why aren't they giving us information? And of course, that just leads to suspicion of of criminality. Chris Bean (15:34.188)That would be, I can't say they are criminal, I can't say they are stealing it, but a forensic audit sure would help a lot and would get a lot of information out of it. Then, so the question you asked me… Chris Steyn (15:47.825)Meanwhile, Christopher, have you had any political support? Chris Bean (15:57.622)I can answer that quickly. Political support, there are DA members. I haven't seen them. I have had the Vryheids Front. have been very helpful. They do have influence in the provincial level to at least redirect this transaction. So getting back to the houses, it's no longer a question of providing housing for local people. It's now using this whole area to relocate thousands of people from the Krugerstorp area to another place where there's no jobs, where there's no accommodation, so they have to build shacks. There's no water, there's no sewage, there's no schools, there's no nothing. And it's distorting a community that has been here, as I said, since 1850. There was no problem until Mogale City in their wisdom decided to just cram as many people as they could into this area, which is in the Cradle of Humankind. I mean, you would have thought they would have done some research. You can go onto Mogale City website right now and you'll see they talk about the heritage sites of UNESCO and this is exactly the area that needs protection. It doesn't need to…it’s like taking a huge, taking, when you take 200,000 people who are unemployed, you have nothing to offer, nothing to contribute except very minor jobs which are already taken by people who've been here and now all you're going to have is crime. It does, it makes no sense. So, if I can get back to the statement you made, can you get them to come around the table, can you get them to come around the table? In the beginning, I would have said no, but fortunately, the rules of court and the rules of court in an application are very strict at the moment. That's one of the reasons why it's extremely difficult to get into court and to get a date and a hearing. And the hearings... Chris Bean (18:23.97)…dates go on and on for months and months. But one of the requirements which the courts have, which the judges have insisted on, which I think is good, is they compel both sides to come around the table and see if they can at least reduce the issues in dispute so that the judge doesn't have to waste his time on something that could already have been resolved. In this particular case, the people haven't yet arrived in these 208 houses that being built. Those houses are empty. But in 2019, there was an invasion onto that exact site, which was pushed back. And since then, nobody's been there. But now the houses are becoming almost complete. The sewage isn't done. Needless to say, there's a water issue hasn't been done. And we want to have a round table and we think it's going to be positive because we're not we are anticipating the things that will happen. We are waiting now to to to make a proposal to them that says this is what we think you should have in our area. And we say this for these reasons. So before Mogale City who never, who've seldom come here. And I'm not sure about their skills. I'm not sure about their town planning skills. I'm very wary of their competency. Even though in the affidavit, they've said, I'm so and so, I'm writing this affidavit and I am competent to do so which of course immediately causes a reaction to say, how do you say you're competent? What does your competency consist of? Anyway, so if we can get a roundtable solution, there are there's and we have certain requirements, we would we would hope that it will become a settlement agreement that I know will apply in so many other cases all over the whole country. So in other words, when there is this type of quote, invasion, semi-invasion, no invasion has taken place yet. So let’s… Chris Bean (20:48.844)…have some set of rules as to who comes there, what happens when they get here, what are the facilities that we're providing, what opportunities to make a human kind of organisation rather than a squatter camp. To me, a squatter camp is a shack with no toilets, with very little water, and it's a situation of complete hopelessness. Even though there's lot of stealing going on, et cetera, you can't blame them because there's nothing else they can do. And that is not necessarily the fault of the people who've been dumped there. It's the fault of the people who dumped them there. There is no industry nearby. There is no place where you can go and get in your in a taxi and spend 25 minutes and get to a factory where you can get a job. There's nothing like that. We are out in the Grammadoelas which is great. That's why a lot of people come here. Chris Steyn (21:49.781)Christopher, what is your message to the Mogale City and their lawyers in the meantime? Chris Bean (22:06.444)Don't threaten us. Don't try and ask for some kind of a kickback. And if you talk the truth, then we will find a way to solve this problem. I can't make it any simpler than that. Chris Steyn (23:16.373)Thank you. That was attorney Christopher Bean speaking to BizNews. I'm Chris Steyn. Thank you, Christopher. Chris Bean (23:23.918)Thank you.

Squatter, sewage - and crime -crisis in the Cradle of Humankind

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