Illegal land use questioned
The message from residents was clear, they were desperate for assistance.
Residents in Klopperpark have identified 51 properties in the suburb that now feature additional buildings and boarding rooms. They believe that the majority of these were built without prior permission and approval from the City of Ekurhuleni.
At a recent meeting between the community and the NEWS, the high number of additional boarding rooms built on properties was highlighted as one of the biggest concerns for residents in the area.
The message from residents was clear, they were desperate for assistance. Resident Nicole Botha hopes that her efforts to report the property owners to the council would not be in vain.
She and others in the area have collated a detailed list of properties in the area they believe have built extensions illegally. Botha has on numerous occasions been in contact with officials from the City regarding the buildings. In her email correspondence with the City, Botha was told in mid-October last year that the city’s building control officials conducted inspections at several properties in Klopperpark.
She received feedback on 10 properties inspected from a list of 39 handed to the City. At the time, seven of the 10 were found to be in contravention of council regulations. Property owners at these premises were issued with contravention notices. The notices issued afforded the property owners 28 days to comply with City regulations following which the complaints would be handed to the City’s legal department.
Botha believes that the high number of alleged illegal buildings was a contributing factor to other issues in the area including low water pressure. She told officials that the strain on the areas sewerage system was also evident. Botha was assured that the matter was receiving urgent attention from the City and that a holistic investigative approach for the area was underway.
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She was told by officials that preliminary feedback indicated a general move towards the proliferation of boarding rooms. Botha was also told that having boarding rooms was not illegal in itself but that operating these without prior council approval was illegal.
“In some of the cases reported, contravening residents have simply been able to pay their way out of the situation,” she said.
The NEWS sent a detailed four-page enquiry to the City regarding the matter on April 12. The enquiry included the full list of properties reported to the NEWS as well as a further 35 questions. At the time of going the print the NEWS did not receive feedback to the enquiry; however, the media department at the City provided feedback to an enquiry sent on March 24 in which the NEWS also questioned a matter of illegal land use and boarding rooms.
Spokesperson for the City Zweli Dlamini acknowledged that the City was aware of problems in the Klopperpark area as far as illegal land uses are concerned.
“The City has Development Compliance Officers who attend to illegal land uses throughout the City, including Klopperpark. “Where illegal uses are found, a compliance notice is served on the owner of the transgressing property, instructing him/her to restore the property to its intended use within 28 days, failure of which the matter is referred to the Corporate and Legal Department for prosecution,” Dlamini said.
The NEWS also sent the same enquiry and additional questions to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) questioning whether the entity had any jurisdiction on the matter as many of the landlords of the properties may not be paying taxes on the rental income derived from the properties.
Anton Fisher from the SARS communications department responded that the matter would be investigated.
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