We are not illegal, say residents

We didn’t get anything from the city and don’t need anything from it.’

- Marizka Coetzer

Residents of Kleinfontein say they are not doing anything illegal following the High Court in Pretoria judgment last week, ordering the City of Tshwane to step in and enforce its bylaws.

Rietfontein director and shareholder Dannie de Beer said they didn't get anything from the city and don't need anything from it.

"We are not illegal. We have tried to establish Kleinfontein as a township since 1998," he said.

At the entrance of the Rietfontein stood a statue of former SA prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd, former SA president Paul Kruger and a statue with Rietfontein's three vows, made out of Paardekraal, Bloed Rivier and Jan van Riebeeck as you enter the culturally segregated, Afrikaner-only settlement on the east of Pretoria.

The piece of land was established in 1990 and was now estimated to be over 900 hectares with about 1 500 residents living in different zones and housing, including three shacks, houses equivalent to RDP houses, wooden houses and townhouses.