More than 350 government buildings have been hijacked or illegally occupied in KwaZulu-Natal, most in Ulundi
MEC Martin Meyer is preparing to deal with illegally occupied government properties in Ulundi.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo/ Independent Newspapers
KwaZulu-Natal Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer has revealed that an alarming 357 government properties are illegally occupied - 120 of them are in Durban while the majority is in Ulundi.
The Ulundi buildings in the old Legislature precinct in the northern KZN town include government flats and houses that were used by the ministers and officials under the then KwaZulu Government before the 1994 elections.
The residences were abandoned when the ANC came to power and moved the KZN Legislature to Pietermaritzburg in 2004.
Meyer said in a media briefing yesterday that those occupying some of the houses in Ulundi were armed and dangerous and had threatened department staff during a recent audit of buildings.
The MEC said he was going to arrange a meeting with KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to discuss the hijacked buildings.
“I can’t put the lives of my staff at risk. I am arranging a meeting with Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli and Commissioner Mkhwanazi to go back there. We need to know who these people are, where they came from and how they got there. The government needs to reclaim those properties from those people,” said Meyer.
He also warned illegal occupants to voluntarily leave government properties or face the full might of the law.
Meanwhile Meyer, Economic Development and Tourism MEC Reverend Musa Zondi and Agriculture MEC Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa yesterday signed an agreement in terms of which state-owned properties will be repurposed for use by the departments.
Meyer said there are about 81 government-owned properties that were either under-utilised or unused have been released for repurposing.
In terms of the memorandum of understanding, the Public Works and Infrastructure department will release 11 farms to the Agriculture and Rural Development department and a shoe factory building to the Economic Development department.
KaMadlopha-Mthethwa thanked Meyer for the release of the farms and said her department was ready to repurpose these underutilised farms for rural and economic development which would benefit farmers.
She said the department will soon issue notices for proposals, saying the process will be transparent and that most of the farms are in the Endumeni Local Municipality in Dundee while others are in the Uthukela District Municipality.
Zondi said such an agreement had the potential to unlock the full value of the province’s assets, “especially the land that has for too long remained idle, under-utilised, or hijacked”.
“This collaboration is about bringing life back to our land, transforming abandoned properties into centres of activity, productivity, and dignity. Through this partnership, we are aligning Public Works, Agriculture, and Economic Development around one shared mission: to make land a catalyst for food security, industrial growth, and job creation,” said Zondi.
Public Works and Infrastructure will save R25 million in rates and levies by offloading the 81 properties. In total, the province owns 10 000 properties.