Public Works plans taking legal action against Knoflokskraal illegal occupation

The Department of Public Works plans to approach the Western Cape High Court again over the illegal occupation of Knoflokskraal near Grabouw, but it won’t be seeking to evict the occupants.

Rather, Minister Dean Macpherson said the court would be asked to strengthen the enforcement of a previous containment order granted by the court, to prevent further mushrooming on the state-owned property.

Macpherson alleges the site has become a hotbed of criminal activity, which is infiltrating Cape Town, and that contrary to popular belief, it is not a site housing the destitute.

The 1,800-hectare land, which was intended for forestry use, was first occupied during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

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For six years, the occupancy of the Knoflokskraal site has been steadily increasing, led by Khoi and San royal authorities who say the occupation of the site is about reclaiming ancestral land.

While its leadership has been challenging the Theewaterskloof municipality to provide them with basic services and for the government to recognise the inhabitants of the six farms as a cultural community, Macpherson said the illegal occupation of government land cannot go unchallenged.

"This is not a benevolent landless and destitute occupation. This is far more organised. This is far more coordinated. There are criminal syndicates involved with what is going on, on that piece of land".

Theewaterskloof Mayor Lincoln de Bruyn said his life had been threatened during attempts to engage the occupants, and now the court will be asked to force residents to comply with a social survey to determine exactly who occupies the area.

"The inhabitants of Knoflokskraal don't pay one cent towards the services we render. And that puts a financial strain on our [the municipality’s] finances, as well as on service delivery."

It is estimated that the site is inhabited by more than 15,000 people in some 4,000 houses and structures erected on-site.