<\/p>\n
The first step towards restoring the rule of law to Knoflokskraal has been achieved.<\/p>\n
Knoflokskraal is the name given to about 2 000 hectares of state-owned land near Grabouw in the Western Cape that has been unlawfully occupied \u2013 in some instances by people for a holiday home, as well as Airbnbs and restaurants \u2013 since the Covid-19 lockdown in late 2020.<\/p>\n
Read: State fights to reclaim land used for holiday homes and restaurants<\/p>\n
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) successfully obtained an order from the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town this week authorising substituted service of the department\u2019s main application to the illegal occupiers of the property and community leaders.<\/p>\n
This was Part A of the department\u2019s application, which was seeking an order allowing the department to serve the application in different ways with the aim of ensuring all affected persons have a reasonable opportunity to receive notice of the proceedings and attend the main hearing.<\/p>\n
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson welcomed the order authorising substituted service of the department\u2019s main application.<\/p>\n
He said the order marked the first step to restoring the rule of law at Knoflokskraal and gathering the information necessary to enable evidence-based decision-making related to the unlawful occupation.<\/p>\n
Read:
Cape Castle occupiers removed
Tshwane moves to \u2018standardise approach to illegal developments\u2019
Court win for housing company that has faced intimidation campaign
Illegal land grabs prompt a rethink of the Pie Act<\/p>\n
The order authorises a comprehensive service and notification process to ensure that all affected parties are properly notified and given an opportunity to engage with the legal process.<\/p>\n
This includes multilingual notices, loudhailer announcements, service on community structures, newspaper publications and online access to court papers.<\/p>\n
Macpherson said the department will proceed with implementing these court-sanctioned measures ahead of the main application, which is expected to be heard in February next year and reaffirms the department\u2019s commitment to restoring lawful governance through transparent, procedurally fair and court-supervised processes.<\/p>\n
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He said restoration of the rule of law at Knoflokskraal begins with ensuring that the law is respected and that proper legal processes are followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow unlawful occupation and the breakdown of the rule of law to go unaddressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, we are committed to ensuring that our actions are lawful, procedurally fair and subject to judicial oversight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Six particular properties<\/p>\n
DPWI Cape Town regional manager Dumisani Gqibela said in the founding affidavit the application relates to six properties that have been and remain the subject of unlawful and illegal occupation.<\/p>\n
Gqibela said the DPWI is the statutory custodian of these six properties.<\/p>\n
Knoflokskraal is adjacent to the Houwteq facility, which is owned by Denel Industrial Properties and serves as a dedicated satellite assembly, integration and testing facility.<\/p>\n
The Houwteq facility owned by Denel Industrial Properties. Image: Denel Properties website<\/p>\n
Prior to the establishment of the Houwteq facility, the location was deemed suitable to the safety and security needs of such a facility because the site was considered unsuitable agricultural and human settlement development.<\/p>\n
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Unlawful activity continues \u2018unabated\u2019<\/p>\n
Gqibela said despite two interim interdicts to prevent further occupation, structural erections and intimidation of DPWI officials, these activities continued unabated.<\/p>\n
He added that the exact number of occupants and structures erected at Knoflokskraal remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that there are between 15 000 and 20 000 persons who occupy the properties and there are about 4 500 structures erected throughout the site, according to Gqibela.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese structures take various forms, including brick and mortar structures, wooden cabin structures and informal structures using zinc and other material.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these occupations have occurred without the consent of DPWI. Moreover, the occupiers do not have any other right in law to occupy the properties. Their occupation of the properties is unlawful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Macpherson said earlier this month there are potentially thousands of people involved in the illegal land invasion, many with second homes at Knoflokskraal similar to holiday homes, while residing in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not small homes. These are not homes of first residents. These are secondary holiday homes and \u2026 some of them are being used as Airbnbs and some of them are restaurants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Applications<\/p>\n
The main high court application, Part B, has several connected components:<\/p>\n
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Containment to prevent the continued occupation from expanding further by preventing new occupations, further construction, the movement of building materials onto the site for new structures, and the unlawful sale or allocation of state land.
\nEngagement and enumeration by a social facilitator to establish who is living at Knoflokskraal, how households are made up, when people arrived, their socio-economic circumstances, what vulnerabilities exist and what cultural or heritage claims are being advanced, if any.
\nProhibiting unlawful conduct, including violence, threats, intimidation and harassment of government officials and contractors, plus unlawful land transactions and the operation of parallel policing structures.
\nEnforcement to require the South African Police Service (SAPS) to assist in enforcing the court\u2019s directives and maintaining public order.<\/p>\n
Gqibela said each of these outcomes is interdependent.<\/p>\n
\u201cContainment is the necessary precondition for engagement and credible enumeration; enumeration is the necessary precondition for evidence-based decision making in respect of what constitutes an appropriate intervention at Knoflokskraal; the interdicting of illegal and unlawful conduct is necessary to preserve the integrity of both processes; and SAPS\u2019 executing its duties is central to all of these objectives.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegrettably, the intervention of this court is necessary to achieve these modest outcomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is so because \u2026 the DPWI has not been able to access the community to achieve these objectives to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead it has been met by angry residents, conducting themselves in a violent and inflammatory way and being obstructive to any attempts by DPWI to obtain information as to the state of matters on the properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo too, SAPS has provided little assistance to bring law and order at the properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cCourt orders are needed to avoid ongoing self-help and lawlessness by the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gqibela added that while the DPWI has engaged and addressed several letters to community leadership structures, it doing so must not be construed as:<\/p>\n
Constituting a recognition of a right of any person to occupy or to remain in occupation of Knoflokskraal;
\nAny ancestral, cultural or restitution claim in respect to Knoflokskraal; or
\nAny traditional of Khoi-San leadership or structure, the recognition of which is governed by the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act.<\/p>\n
Homes erected in the informal settlement of Knoflokskraal in Grabouw in March 2025.<\/p>\n
About 100 people living in Knoflokskraal protested next to the N2 in May 2023.<\/p>\n
A March 2022 photograph showing hundreds of people living on state land in Knoflokskraal.<\/p>\n
Knoflokskraal was first occupied in November 2020 in an effort to establish a self-sustaining \u2018sovereign Khoisan community\u2019.<\/p>\n
Images: Ashraf Hendricks\/GroundUp<\/p>\n
#Court #state #loudhailers #restore #rule #law #Knoflokskraal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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