Last Monday, the Kweneng Land Board finally acted on its eviction notice only to face resistance as Nkoyaphiri squatters stopped the yellow monster from demolishing their structures. When the squatters put up some fight, the bulldozer had already torn down fences for some illegal plots. The expectation was that the residents would have taken heed of the Board’s notice to vacate the area last week Friday, but the defiant squatters were adamant of keeping what they see as their rightful land. There was no room for negotiation with the squatters.
The Land Board had enough of the defiant group of squatters who had constantly resisted the Board’s efforts to retake the land for nearly nine months. Kweneng Land Board chairperson, Kgang Kgang was adamant on reposing the land. “Go ahead and destroy,’’ Kgang instructed the bulldozer driver. The yellow monster swung its shovels and began to tear down their fences all willy-nilly. “If a person was not allocated {the land} by the land board we have to remove you so you can register with the Land Board lawfully. Some of you set up here since COVID-19, but because of that we decided not to dismantle anyone’s home instead we went around marking the houses then we talked to each of you to pack up your belonging but now it’s escalating because you have decided to build further. As the Land Board we have been singing this for nine months,” said Kgang as he addressed the distraught crowd this week.
