The Northsider recently received a number of complaints from residents in the Poortview area regarding several developments along the cliff-side, all along Totius Road.
The developments were all initially presumed to be illegal, however this has been proved to be incorrect.
The first development on the list is, according to neighbours, allegedly being used as a location to film a movie.
However, much to our dismay, we were unable to get hold of anybody when we arrived at the property.
Northsider did however manage to get hold of Ward 97 councillor and MMC for Social and Economic Development, Leah Knott, who was able to confirm that there has been no information of a film being shot on the property.
“They would require special permission to shoot a movie, and we do not know of any plans to do so,” said Knott.
Neighbours have also expressed complaints that they have fired gunshots for the filming of the movie, even at night.
According to Knott, at the time of going to press, the incidents and allegations were still under investigation by City of Johannesburg (COJ).
Moving on to number two (and this property is not a new problem by any means) …
According to the property owner, he received a 76 approval letter from the municipality, which acts as a pre-approval letter prior to receiving the go-ahead on your construction plans, in 2007.
This was confirmed by Knott, but she also stated that the 76 is only valid for a few months before it expires.
Hence, the 76 for the property expired over time, and the builders were unable to legally continue with construction.
Over the years, the property remained relatively inactive, not causing the council any major issues. Then construction seemed to resume recently, without the approval of a 76.
According to Knott, the council served the property owner with a notice to stop construction immediately in July of this year.
“On 14 July, we issued them with a notice to stop building, as they did not have approval,” said Knott.
They have since been granted another 76 letter, according to Knott.
“They do currently have a 76 approval letter, but only to build the boundary wall and driveway for the property. There have been no other problems of late, but we are expecting the plans to be approved either late this month or early next month,” Knott reassured the residents of the area.
The final property on our list is the hottest issue. The owner of the property is alleged to have applied for building permission at the Mogale City Municipality, despite Poortview lying outside the city’s boundaries.
Apparently, he initially applied for building permission from the City of Joburg (CoJ), but this was denied. He allegedly then went to Mogale City, and submitted a fraudulent application there.
Permission was allegedly granted by Mogale City, but building operations were halted by CoJ, as they had not been approved by the right municipality.
According to an anonymous source, there is no record on the Mogale system of any such application. However, Knott said that would happen, as the property does not exist on Mogale’s database.
“There would of course be no trace of it on their system, as the property is not under their jurisdiction. We are aware of the allegations and the matter is being investigated by CoJ’s legal department,” Knott said.
Knott ended by highlighting the ever-apparent infrastructure problem, not only in the area, but in the province as well.
“We really do have a problem with infrastructure, and if these guys don’t do their paperwork properly, they are only making the problem worse.”
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at northsider@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
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