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Mangaung Metro has hit back on the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mangaung Metro for their court interdict halting the process of allocating people with land in Lourierpark, Bloemfontein.
The Executive Mayor of Mangaung Cllr. Gregory Nthatisi has expressed disappointment towards the DA and said their actions are a clear demonstration that they are against transformation and desperate for political control.
Nthatisi says there are more than 77 000 people registered on the National Housing Needs Register (NHNR) with reference numbers waiting for placement opportunities, however, with the legal battle pursued by the DA, the process is delayed and the municipality is forced to comply.
The Executive Mayor says complying with the court order is not a sign of giving in to the DA.
“The legal battle pursued by the DA has now become a human rights issue. And the Council cannot defer it further. The latest court application by the DA is not about governance, but desperation for political control. Now that the matter has been postponed to the 5th of March 2026, the Metro has no choice but comply with the interim court order.
This compliance is not analogous to political submission. It rather exposes a deeper and more uncomfortable truth about the DA’s unresolved hostility towards a transformative agenda. The municipal council has taken a resolution that where pieces of land with planning processes done, the City should provide preliminary basic services,” said Nthatisi.
The DA in its statement accused the municipality of creating another informal settlement after it announced that it will be relocating land invaders to a more suitable place with services in Lourierpak.
The DA said the court order is a critical intervention to prevent the creation of yet another un-serviced informal settlement in Mangaung, where 52 such settlements already exist, and where residents have been waiting for basic services for years after being settled in a similar unlawful manner by the ANC-led municipality.
The Metro has since dismissed these claims by the DA saying it is misleading the nation.
“The DA is misleading the nation to say the City is creating another informal settlement in Lourierpark. This area has been surveyed and sites demarcated for relocation and allocation to benefit the people of Mangaung in an orderly and legal manner.
However, the land is subject to further developments. The roads are being scrapped for access and preliminary basic services that address human rights commission are attended to. Work-in-progress? Yes, it is. It is way better than the conditions that the vulnerable are currently enduring. But the DA would not know because they do not live among those communities;” said the Mayor.
