Rates boycott threat over alleged illegal buildings

Close to a year after the Milnerton protest against “illegal buildings”, residents say they received little to no help and are threatening a rates boycott.

Tabletalk reported on the somewhat 60 residents who took to the streets in early May last year, where they handed a two-page memorandum to mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews (“Call for action against dodgy developers,” Tabletalk, May 10, 2023).

The memorandum called for Mr Andrews to, among other things, investigate how “illegal buildings” impact crime, infrastructure and property values.

The memorandum also consisted of a list of 160 alleged illegal buildings in Milnerton, and “too many to count,” in Phoenix.

But residents say the number of “illegal buildings,” have doubled and for developers it’s “business as usual”, despite the establishment of a task team by Mr Andrews’s department.

The task team is made up of officials from the Blaauwberg Development Management department, and the civic organisations who sought legal advice against the City and the developers.

They are; Milnerton Central Ratepayers’ Association (MCRA), Phoenix Ratepayers’ and Community Forum (PRCF), Sanddrift Residents’ Association (SRA), Summer Greens Ratepayers’ Association (SGRA), and Tijgerhof Ratepayers’ Association (TRA) (“Civics threaten to take City, developers to court,” October 26, 2022).

The first task team was held in July 2023, a second in September 2023, attended by Tabletalk, and the third on Thursday April 11,this year.

Mr Andrews attended the July meeting, but was absent from the other two meetings.

City official, Robert McGaffin, chaired the meeting on April 11, speaking about the administrative penalties the City is issuing to developers around the city and why densification is allowed.

But residents did not want to hear about other suburbs, and insisted that their views, facts, findings, and opinions from the memorandum be taken into account.

Councillors Anthony Benadie, of Ward 4, and Fabian Ah-Sing of Ward 55, attended the meeting.

Mr Benadie asked about buildings that already exist and do not comply with the provisions, particularly in Summer Greens. “What happens to it (the buildings), and how does the department know which buildings are so-called illegal, and which are legal?”

Mr McGaffin responded: “Building inspectors would identify it or the public would notify us.”

A resident shouted, “But we notify you and nothing gets done. It's a year later.”

PRCF’s chairperson, Linda Mqikela, said every third house in Phoenix has become an “illegal building or boarding house,” because their neighbours are getting away with it.

She added that some people don’t have plans to build, but their structures are nearly complete and are advertised for tenants to occupy.

“How is this still happening and why was it not investigated? Some of these places don’t even have a foundation but it goes two storeys high?” she said.

Mr McGaffin looked puzzled and said, “I’ll be very surprised if that’s happening.”

Laughter erupted from the crowd, and a resident said, “We encourage you to come look for yourself, you know nothing.”

Then Garron Gsell, of the TRA, presented on the overhead projector, showing examples of the alleged illegal buildings and other houses which are earmarked for development.

He added that the residents are angry and want to defend their property values, and put an end to the “corruption” between the City and the developers. “As the civics of this suburb we understand the need for densification, but there seems to be a nasty underbelly to it, and the enforcement of your own by-laws are not being adhered to on either side.”

Mr Gsell added that the infrastructure of the suburb is buckling under pressure, and that residents are greeted with effluent down their streets, as it happens in informal settlements.

Yet, he said, a year later and nothing is being done about the concerns raised in the memorandum.

He said while people are encouraged to report the alleged illegal buildings, on conditions of being anonymous, they still end up being threatened by developers.

“We have spoken about whistle-blowers within the City, has anything been done about it?” he asked.

According to a document Mr Gsell showed officials, a City inspector from Somerset West was working on a development in Milnerton.

He asked if it was okay for inspectors from another districts to work on the case in this district, and officials present at the meeting responded with “no.” “So what is going on, isn’t this fishy?” he asked.

He added that the public participation process was inconsistent, and said some City officials are doing the developers’ “dirty work,” by going around to neighbours to get signatures on their plans.

He again asked the officials at the meeting if this is “normal,” to which they responded “no.”

Residents said they left the meeting with more questions than answers, and civics engaged in meetings on Thursday April 18 to provide feedback of the task team meeting, said residents are considering a rates boycott.

Mr Andrews told Tabletalk that notices of no objection forms are given to affected neighbours by the applicants and that City officials are not allowed to personally get signatures from neighbours, this according to the Municipal Planning By-Law (MPBL).

He said the MPBL makes provision for residents who do not give their consent to be notified of the application by the City either via email, should their email addresses be available, or by a registered letter.

Speaking on the threats to residents and the means of remaining anonymous, he said, the identities of those who report these incidents to the City are not disclosed to any third parties.

However, he added, that once these matters are in court, the proceedings are public and the witnesses’ identities may become public as a result.

Regarding the list submitted to him in the memorandum, he said: “The City’s administration was requested to submit a court interdict on the house under construction in Corsair Road and we can confirm that the necessary court interdict was subsequently issued.”

He said he requested the task team to strengthen enforcements as part of the review of the Municipal Planning By-Law.

“We are considering confiscating equipment and materials from the site where the illegal activity is taking place. Interventions of this nature will then hopefully over time ensure that builders and developers refrain from participating in illegal building activities.”

He said cases where contraventions have been confirmed are at a different stage of the legal enforcement process, and in other cases where cease works are not complied with, the matters are referred to the courts for further legal action.

“The City is dependent on external court processes to obtain compliance and has no control over the time-frames for these to be concluded in court,” said Mr Andrews.