Magaliessig residents stage human chain protest over Makro development
MAGALIESSIG – Residents against Makro's encroachment into residential area.
The eight-year battle between Magaliessig residents and Makro over the proposed construction of the retail group’s giant store in Fourways is continuing unabated.
Hundreds of residents participated in a peaceful human chain protest on 11 June on the corner of Witkoppen and Leslie roads over the planned conversion of a 20 000m² strip of land in Magaliessig into a Makro shopping complex.
Read: Makro in Magaliessig melee continues
“Such a huge shopping complex will destabilise this residential place,” said Mary Hanna, chairperson of Magaliessig Action Forum.
“There will be noise and high traffic volumes as shoppers stream into our area. We are against the encroachment of a residential area by commercial and business entities.” Hanna vowed to continue fighting Makro which had successfully appealed to the Provincial Licensing Board against the City of Johannesburg’s decision to disallow the construction of the retail complex.
In a letter written on 28 April this year to Hanna through her attorney, the licensing board upheld the Makro appeal. Fourways Review is in possession of the letter.
Speaking about the protest, Hanna said, “[About] 150 residents of Magaliessig joined the peaceful human chain on the corner of Witkoppen and Leslie roads today. We have been opposing the proposed development since we first heard of it on 9 February 2010. Makro purchased the property in November 2008, knowing full well that the property fell outside the Fourways Business Node and is zoned agricultural, residential and undetermined.
“We appreciate that the land must and will be developed, but it is the proposed type of development that we are objecting to, which at present is in total conflict with [City of Johannesburg] policies and all accepted town planning practices.”
Other concerns about the development were parking for 1 000 cars; an increase in traffic in off-peak hours, especially Saturdays and Sundays; an estimated increase of 1 200 cars an hour on a Saturday; and its close proximity to retirement village, Merrow Down Country Club which was established 30 years ago.
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