Bloemfontein residents rally against development in conservancy

One of Bloemfontein’s most valued areas, The Seven Dams Conservancy, will be partly sold to make way for a housing development, according to concerned residents, who say the local municipality has failed to follow the rules in the sale.

The Friends of the Seven Dams Conservancy, a group formed in 1993 to protect and promote the area, has accused the Mangaung Metro Municipality of failing to conduct a fair and transparent public participation process, and of using underhanded tactics to push through development, which residents are opposing.

“The decision to dispose of 25% of the conservancy is extremely short-sighted and in clear conflict with the demands of their own Urban Open Spaces Policy,” said chair of the group, Advocate Jo Hiemstra. “It is a contemptuous slap in the face of the community they are supposed to serve, but who they have completely ignored, and is so unreasonable that one can only conclude that there are ulterior motives.”

Hiemstra said the devastating visual impact of high-density housing, especially on the two hilltops, would be detrimental for the future of the environmentally sensitive area, which is home to various important archaeological sites containing Stone Age tools, grave sites, and Anglo-Boer War structures.

“The proposed housing developments will eradicate all existing indigenous plants. It will also destroy the bedrock by extensive excavation and use of explosives,” he said. “In what we believe to have been a very intentional and underhanded tactic, a notice was posted at the beginning of the holiday season to call for public participation and comment on the new proposed development.”

“The only problem is, no public was here to take notice or to file objections before the deadline of January 7,” Hiemstra said.

Mangaung Metro Municipality spokesperson Qondile Khedama said the municipality intended to sell portions of the land to stimulate economic growth in the region.

Khedama said the sale of land for development would be advertised in newspapers calling for bids. “This is to ensure that the process is fair.”

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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