Cape Town - Church leaders from The Elected in Christ Church in Delft are at their wits' end after paying R200 000 for a piece of land on auction from the City of Cape Town which is now occupied by illegal occupants who refuse to move.
The church bought the piece of land in Eindhoven, Delft on 16 October 2019 for R200 000 with the intention of building a new church and setting up a feeding scheme and a training centre with free courses for the community.
However, the secretary of Elected in Christ, Shirley De Bruin said that the property was bought during Covid-19 and that the illegal occupants moved onto the property while it was still in the City's possession.
“When we bought the land there were no shacks. When the process started, that was when the pandemic hit, which caused the process to be delayed. While the process was ongoing people started putting up their shacks before the land was in the church's name.”
“When we saw there were two shacks, we informed Law Enforcement immediately and this was before the land was even on the church's name. They assured us that they would remove the occupants but they never did. The transaction only went through in 2021 and by that time there were hundreds of shacks on our property.”
“We are currently having church in someone else's yard in Kuils River where we had to set up a structure and we need to pay rent but we have land. We have reached out to the City of Cape Town, JP Smith and the Mayor in regard to this but they are saying it is a private matter but when the people came to squat the property was in the City's name.”
The church had another low blow when they paid an alleged bogus lawyer who claimed to have his own practice over R20 000. He promised that he would get the matter sorted out but after instituting their own investigation they found out that everything is fake.
“We were given a case number and stamped documents but when we did our own investigation we found out that the case number does not exist and that the case was never reported or at court. He just wanted our money.”
First lady of Elected in Christ, Cynthia Taylor said that the church gets a municipal bill for the land every month which they need to pay of around R300.
“We can't put our foot on our property. We tried to speak to them and got chased away, they say it is the City's property. Me and my husband had to sell our house to put up the money to buy the land. We paid more than R200 000 because we got charged additional fees.”
“We are not happy, we feel the City made their problem our problem. We are hindered and can't do anything.”
When Weekend Argus drove past the piece of land with Taylor and De Bruin, one of the occupants on the land shouted, ‘there is that women who says this is her property.'
According to the church members the piece of land has become a hotspot for gang violence and a drug den. Three men were shot and killed on the property last Sunday including a 14-year-old who was shot in the leg, however they say it is not the first incident.
The members say they are willing to meet with the City to come to a conclusion or the City can give them another property.
The City's spokesperson, Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “The Sale Agreement provides that the City as the seller, does not make any warranties regarding the vacant occupation of the property and does not guarantee the same upon the date of registration of transfer. It furthermore stipulates that should any eviction order be required to be effected, the church would undertake to obtain such order at its own costs.
“Despite having sympathy for the church's position it found itself in, the City acted within its rights and the church did not attempt to, nor elect to cancel the sale prior to the registration of transfer,” Tyhalibongo said.
“The church was reminded of this sale agreement provision and though not satisfied with the circumstances, paid the balance of the purchase price that enabled the conveyancers to register the transfer of the property into its name on 6 September 2021.
“The church has been advised that the City is not allowed to entertain land swops with an alternative property and that as the property is now privately owned, the City can unfortunately not assist in the eviction of the illegal dwellers,” Tyhalibongo said.
Weekend Argus