Residents from Malanshof are up in arms over an empty stand that belonged to Cartique car dealership devaluating their homes.
A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that it has been two years since the dealership has moved from the premises and the building that stood on the stand was demolished. The resident added that the empty lot did not look appealing and was attracting vagrants.
“The premises has become a dumping ground for residents and there are lots of rats that have now made the empty lot their homes,” he said. He pointed out that he had caught several people dumping their rubbish at the dealership. Ward 104 Councillor Mike Wood said that he had sent a letter to the City of Joburg’s environmental department and was waiting for their response. He pointed out that he had contacted the owner of the property’s lawyers who had initially promised that the problem would be sorted out in January when they would start building on the premises but that to date nothing has been done yet.
“Residents are worried that the empty premises would affect the value of their properties,” he said.
Ben de Beer from De Beer Minnaar Inc said that they were aware of the problems that the empty lot was causing with residents but said that their hands were tied as the developer was waiting for City Power to supply adequate electricity to the lot as they had plans to build 22 double-storey units.
“The problem started when our client had to move his business due to zone restrictions. The area is zoned for residential and not business so our client had to vacate the premises,” he explained.
De Beer further added that the building was demolished to discourage vagrants from living on the premises and that they could not move the rubble as the developer would need it to build the foundation.
He pleaded with residents to bear with the situation for a little bit longer as they had received indication from City Power that electricity would be installed soon which meant that building on the premises would follow.
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