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SA Land Invasions: The Bredell Squatters weren’t trespassing

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2001-08-29 Time: 17:40:42  Posted By: Jan

The PAC’s insane land invasions which it kicked off some weeks ago
ended in court with the squatters getting off scott-free. They invaded
government and private land and yet all is well. Just because they “thought”
they were buying land they weren’t trespassing!!

So if I steal something which “I thought was really mine” it isn’t stealing
any more? Yeah right!

This entire episode is dangerous because these people violated private
property which is enshrined in our constitution and yet they and the PAC got
away with it.

I think this opens the door for more land invasion nonsense in SA. Also, I
heard from various contacts that there were other land invasions which never
made the news. Near Louis Trichard, 500 people grabbed some land and I never
again heard what happened to them.

Daily Mail & Guardian 29th August 2001

SEVENTY-three Thembisa residents arrested land month for illegally occupying
state land in Bredell, Kempton Park, were not trespassing, Kempton Park
Magistrate Karen Pillay ruled on Tuesday.

Pillay found that because the accused had thought they had legitimately
bought the plots, and the state had failed to adequately warn them that they
were trespassing, they were in fact not doing so.

They were arrested on July 2 when police stormed the area and held them for
illegally occupying the land.

Defence attorney Makgorometjie Makhahlele told the court that his clients,
mostly elderly people, had flocked to the area after seeing a circular in
Thembisa stating there was land available for homeless people.

He said his clients moved to the area after paying R25 for plots of land from
Pan Africanist Congress officials.

The court earlier heard that Zodwa Mosukutu, a deputy-director in the
Department of Land Affairs had been present on the day but had not warned the
accused that they were trespassing on state property.

She told the court she had arrived in the area after hearing there were
problems in Bredell. She said the only people who had the right to be there
were the families of 24 contractors employed by the provincial department of
public works to work in the area.

She said Mosukutu, who was regarded as the complainant, had failed to prove
that the accused were warned when she visited the area.

Pillay advised the freed people to press fraud charges against a man arrested
in connection with selling the plots.

“Next time you want to buy a piece of land, make sure you get legal advice
first before investing your last money in a scam. Let us work together as a
community to avoid criminal activities. We do not wish to be like Zimbabwe,
which is totally lawless at this stage,” she said.

Pillay also issued warrants of arrest for 17 people who failed to appear in
court. – Sapa