Sol Plaatje municipality’s facilitation of illegal land grabs is setting Kimberley up for aggravated housing problems.
For the past three weeks, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been fighting the erection of illegal structures in Oats and Fuller Streets in West End. After being alerted to the situation by community members on 8 August, the DA inspected the site in question. On arrival, we found that the municipality had cleared the area and was in the process of putting up shacks.
The DA confirmed with municipal town planning that the erection of the shacks was illegal, as the site was allocated for the development of housing, for buyers. The municipal housing unit, however, failed to take note of the zoning ordinance and refused to cease its operations.
Over the past weeks, I have repeatedly been on site, trying to calm tensions of people residing in the area. I have been in contact with housing and town planning departments on numerous occasions and also personally made contact with the Mayor, who agreed that the shacks are illegal and must be removed. To date, however, three illegal shacks remain while Sol Plaatje has since proceeded to also erect fencing around the shacks.
The matter effectively points to the housing unit having been hijacked, as it has willfully acted in contravention of municipal regulations. Municipal management has also failed to ensure accountability and that consequence management is enforced.
Given the failure by Sol Plaatje to reign in rogue municipal officials, the DA will push for an urgent briefing of the situation after tomorrow’s council meeting, involving all stakeholders. We also want to know why there has been a dire breakdown in internal communication amongst municipal departments and what action will be taken against officials who have ignored municipal processes and official instruction.
Illegal land grabs must be guarded against and immediately acted upon as they slow the provision of services to settlements, delay planned developments and disenfranchise people that have patiently awaited development.