Residents seek legal advice on cellphone tower saga

THE controversy surrounding the erection of MTN cellphone towers across the metro took another turn last week when residents opted to seek legal opinion to get clarity on the partnership between MTN and eThekwini Municipality.

Speaking to Berea Mail, resident and journalist, Niki Moore, said she along with fellow activist, Daniel Barbeau, resident Andre van Rooyen and Joanne Hathrill from the ACDP, had met with an attorney on Wednesday to discuss a way forward.

“Despite the obvious health implications, we have been told this is not the route to go as health issues can be disputed. The attorney, Annie Pravda, wants to challenge the City and MTN to prove the legality of the masts,” she said.

Moore explained that in any planning scheme, there is a process which needs to be followed, in line with municipal policy.

“The problem here is that the municipality has given itself permission to put up these towers and has disregarded its own recommendations, because it can. The municipality hasn’t followed the correct process and this can only be challenged politically,” she said.

READ RELATED: DA lodges PAIA application for city’s MTN deal

In an attempt to gather more information on the agreement between MTN and the city over the erection of the masts, the Democratic Alliance has used the Promotion of Access to Information Act to force the city to provide the information. The City Manager has until 7 August to respond.

“The municipality is compelled to give the DA the information regarding the agreement for these masts, and if they don’t respond, it is a clear dereliction of duty and this will then have to go to court,” said Moore.

She said the municipality had ‘pretended’ from the start that the towers were for CCTV cameras, but she said it was clear that this was not the case.

READ RELATED: Is it CCTV or is it a mast, ask Glenwood residents

She said CCTV cameras needed to be installed on aluminium poles which were not too high as they needed to be accessed easily for maintenance.

“By law, cell towers need to be more than 35 meters high, rigid and immovable, and are almost exclusive structures. You are not able to switch off cell towers to maintain cameras erected on top of them,” she said.

Moore said the municipality and MTN would no longer respond to her queries.

“I started a Facebook page urging people to report the sites of these masts. I also contacted many lawyers regarding this issue, and Annie was the only one to get back to me. The DA are pleased that we are going the legal route as the municipality can ignore the DA, but they can’t ignore a legal letter,” she said.

In response to questions sent to them regarding the matter, the city said the issue had been referred to the relevant unit for investigation.

READ RELATED: MTN targets Glenwood’s anti-cell mast activist