Makro in Magaliessig melee continues
LONEHILL - THE dispute over the construction of a Makro in Magaliessig is ongoing.
Magaliessig residents and the retail store are taking the fight to another level.
Read Board to deliberate on Makro appeal
and Makro concludes their submission for appeal
Makro snatched victory this week from the jaws of Magaliessig Action Forum by winning an appeal against the Johannesburg Mayoral Committee’s decision not to grant it permission to develop the 11 hectares site into a business facility.
The appeal was heard seven months ago by the Township Board that falls under the Gauteng Government’s Development Planning and Local Government. The committee of the Township Board recommended that Makro be given the go ahead to construct the super-store.
But Magaliessig Action Forum is not happy about the ruling. The forum’s chairperson Mary Hanna told Fourways Review that the recommendations were not backed by any valid reasons.
“We have been fighting this battle for more than five years. We are still to meet to decide on the course of action to take, but I doubt if we will easily give up just like that,” said Hanna.
Read Makro plans to appeal ruling
She said they were still to be given the reasons why the Mayoral Committee’s decision had been overturned.
Hanna added that they would not allow the giant multinational company to spread its tentacles into their backyards. The tough talking Hanna labelled the development a commercial encroachment into a residential area which she said was against the spirit of the city council’s urban planning policy.
Ward councillor Stephen Moore agreed with Hanna. “That area is outside the commercial zone and I don’t understand how the appeal committee reached such a decision,” he said.
Moore said he would work with residents to identify other legal routes of action they could take. City council spokesperson Virgil James referred queries from Fouways Review to the provincial government. Efforts to get comment from the Gauteng Government’s Development Planning and Local Government drew blanks.
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