Some of the residents in Botshabelo in the Free State have occupied various pieces of vacant land. Thousands of shacks are build across the area’s various sport fields.
Unemployment, poverty and the constant rise of the repo rate, are some of the reasons why the residents decided to occupy the vacant land.
They believe that what they’re doing is not illegal, stating that they’re occupying the vacant residential land that the municipality should have allocated a long-time ago.
Many say they used to live in congested households and such circumstances made them feel that their privacy was compromised.
“We want to occupy land because we are landless, that’s why we are staying here,” a resident said
“I have decided to come and stay here. I moved out of home because there were too many of us and so I placed myself here because I cannot afford to pay rent,” another resident explains.
“I’m happy to be here because we now have a place to stay so now being here it’s privilege for all us,” a resident elaborates.
“I’m very happy to live here because I now have a place I call my own. When it comes to services, we are really struggling but we have made our own pit toilets and have also installed some taps however we are still struggling because there are a lot of people here,” another resident said.
Video: Botshabelo resident build shacks on vacant land:
