AfriForum obtain urgent court order to stop landgrabs

AfriForum approached the North West High Court in Mafikeng today to obtain an urgent court order to stop landgrabs in Rustenburg, as well as to prevent further landgrabs on private land in this town. The order compels the police to act against the trespassers together with the sheriff.

This follows the illegal occupation of Fernando Goncalves’s land, after which the trespassers immediately started to demarcate stands and erect structures. Goncalves and the local AfriForum branch chairperson attempted to file a complaint of trespassing at the police station in Rustenburg, but the police refused to either open a case or take any active steps to stop the landgrabs.

AfriForum immediately instructed its legal team to prepare an urgent court application. The application was sent three times to the police office in Rustenburg but was summarily deleted without having been read. 

“AfriForum will once again bring a civil suit against the police as a result of their refusal and negligence. When the costs for the application are recovered from the police, it will by used to fight landgrabs as well as bring lax police stations to book,” says Marnus Kamfer, AfriForum’s Legal and Risk Manager.

“The police is conspicuous in their absence, despite several attempts to call them to action. Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa keeps on telling the world that landgrabs do not exist in South Africa and that the police will intervene if landgrabs do occur. And yet it seems that the Rustenburg police does not have the will to do so,” says Joseph Renaud, AfriForum’s Head of Safety for the central region.