Illegal church structure taken down in North Riding
Residents claimed that noise and church services have continued from early Saturdays until late Sundays along with a few days in the week after the church was destroyed.
Ward 134 Councillor Devon Steenkamp explained that there is a concern about numerous structures being built without the necessary approvals, which violates many city by-laws.
“There is a significant backlog within the city to ensure law and order are maintained, therefore I urge residents to report suspected problem properties by contacting their ward councillor or the City of Johannesburg.”
This follows after the Place of Worship (Church) in North Riding was demolished by the City of Johannesburg’s Building Development Management after their inspection revealed that the property is being used contrary to its current zoning, which contravenes the City of Johannesburg Land Use Scheme 2018.
The church was operating without the written approval of the city council.
Residents complained about loud noise levels, which occurred regularly. A formal complaint was lodged with the Environmental Health Department, Land Use Management, and Building Control Department to investigate.
“It was discovered that the site housed a church, disguised as a temporary canvas tent. However, upon closer inspection by building inspectors, a bricked building structure with air conditioning was found inside the canvas. The owners were issued various compliance notices by different departments, which they ignored,” said Ward councillor.
He explained that numerous compliance notices were sent to the owners to encourage them to comply with local by-laws.
Despite being instructed to cease their activities until they followed the proper processes, they continued. A rates penalty was also applied to the property once it was identified that they were breaking by-laws.
“Numerous site visits by department officials and emails were exchanged over months leading up to the day of demolition.”
One of the residents, Bradford Nel who lived very close to the church, explained that they were made aware the church will hold at least two church services a week.
“In September of 2023, they did in fact take occupation. The very first thing they did was start construction of a substantive building, which unfortunately took place after hours and overnight. Never during normal working hours. The building was clearly visible from Aureole Avenue and was really a very sizeable construction. It literally went up in just under two weeks.”
Church services then started at the beginning of October 2023, with large numbers of people attending.
Nel said that this was concerning on many levels. “We basically as homeowners had no alternative but to sit with closed doors and windows and headphones on just to endure the excessive noise which was unbearable. We also had to put up with tens of people at a time walking our boundary fence with their phones/cameras invading our space and privacy.
“This was every single weekend, most Saturdays and Sundays, and also, of course, over holidays. Christmas and New Year’s (which went from 22:00 at night until 04:00 in the morning). The noise and the disruption were negatively affecting our well-being and the enjoyment of our home which we have spent the last five years developing and improving.”
To explain it further, he said that there was a full public address system with amplifiers and large speakers along with musical instruments and choir all in combination with well over 100 people in many instances singing and shouting.
He added that they are appreciative of the council for getting the demolition done, but it has not stopped the church from continuing its services, despite the fact that the services are unlawful.
“We dread every single weekend instead of looking forward to them, to the extent that we no longer even go out into our garden with our dogs to enjoy time outside. The fact that law-abiding taxpayers have to jump through months of hoops to get a response against blatant illegal activity, is very disheartening. We simply want to be able to live in peace and not feel so unhappy in our hard-earned home.”
The City of Joburg Building Development Management was sent questions on the issue but has not responded by the time of going to print. However, responses will be published once made available. The church owners could not be reached for the comment.
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