AS a way of fighting the hoarding of land, the Gibeon Village Council has asked those who received erven but did not develop them for five years to notify the council if they still want the land.
There are about 300 serviced erven that were allocated to residents on a permission-to-occupy basis but have not been developed for a long time.
The village council’s acting chief executive officer, Monica Silas, told there are many people who need land, and if those who have it have no intentions of doing anything with the land they must surrender it to the council.
“People should respond in writing whether they are still interested in the erven and explain their intentions to develop such land. If they don’t respond, the council will repossess the erven and relocate them to other needy community members,” explained Silas.
She added that the council has a list of 700 applicants and that the council will not service new sites while there is plenty of undeveloped land in the village.
“No one owns an erf in Gibeon. All the erven were just allocated to the people. It is clearly stated on the allocation letter that one has to develop the erf within six months and if you don’t do that it shows that the beneficiaries are not interested in the land,” said Silas.
According to Silas, the council has been very lenient towards residents, saying that nothing is happening on the erven and those to whom the land were allocated, have not been paying anything to the council.
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