Msukaligwa Local Municipality last week advertised 38 municipal erven for sale.
These erven, identified by the erf number only, are in different zoning areas which include business, residential, church and community erven in Ermelo, Wesselton and Breyten.
When approached for comment, some residents that will be affected by the sale had been before unaware of the municipality’s intention when the newspaper drew their attention to it.
The advertisement generated several questions from the community.
Why the sudden sale of 38 properties? What does the resolution LM779/03/2016 under which terms they are sold entail? The million dollar question is: is the money generated from these sales intended to settle the outstanding debt to Eskom?
These three questions were put to the municipality.
The response the newspaper received reads as follows:
1. That Council NOTED the report regarding the high demand for supply of residential, business, church, commercial [sic] from the community.
2. That Council NOTED that the assets Attached [sic]hereto as Annexure “A” are not needed to provide the minimum level of basic municipal services.
3.That Council APPROVED the Assets [sic] to BE DISPOSED [sic] in term [sic]of the Supply Chain Management Policy read with Land Immovable property disposal Policy [sic].
Annexure A as mentioned in the second point was not supplied to the Highvelder, but the newspaper used the advertisement as reference.
The question about the reason why the properties are being sold at this time and whether it is to generate income to pay Eskom remained unanswered by the municipality.
In order to find out where the erven in question are situated, assistance was provided by an accredited town planner and some information was obtained from the valuation roll for the period 1 July 2015 – 30 June 2019, accessible on the municipality’s official website.
Some of the erven could not be located by the town planner nor could they be found on the website.
Other erven that could be identified had houses on them and two of the properties in question were listed under zoning: Business area Ermelo in the advertisement that appeared in the Highvelder (p. 11, 17 March) when in fact they are public open spaces.
A noticeable difference is between the municipal valuation of the properties as indicated in the valuation roll of 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2019 against the advertised asking price.
One of the open spaces in question is Paul Nel Park in Strydom Street situated behind Laerskool JJ van der Merwe. This property valued at R570 000 has an asking price of R4- million.
Another property, a park in CR Swart Street, was valued at R530 000, while it is advertised for sale at R3,5 million.
