The FF Plus in Midvaal met with senior police officers and representatives of the Gauteng provincial Housing and Safety Committee yesterday afternoon to discuss the protest action by Elandsfontein land occupants. Twenty four trespassers were arrested, but were later released after the court decided not to proceed with the prosecution.
The FF Plus asked authorities to take strict action against illegal land occupants because landowners' lives are being endangered.
Over the weekend, the party joined a group of organisations, neighbourhood watches and other people who helped four small-scale farmers in Elandsfontein, south of Johannesburg, to protect their land and possessions from hundreds of land grabbers who invaded the agricultural land.
Landowners' homes were bombarded with petrol bombs while hundreds of people sang loudly and ran around with knives and pangas.
The group of angry landgrabbers returned to the land after the Johannesburg Metro Police tore down illegal structures on the small holdings on the 25th of June in accordance with a court order.
Landgrabs in Gauteng are on the rise and authorities cannot allow farmers' land and possessions to be put at risk in this way.
The FF Plus will continue to encourage the authorities to ensure that properties and people's lives are protected.
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