JPC and City of Joburg respond to issue regarding Pirates lease agreement
GREENSIDE – The City says they remain hopeful that Pirates will heed their request to comply with the law and terms of their agreement.
CEO of the Joburg Property Company Helen Botes has responded to complaints from Pirates Club, labelling their efforts as an attempt to litigate against the City through the media.
“It has taken the chair of Pirates Club, Mr. Lloyde Hanson, three years to admit that he had granted consent for the WastePreneurs to operate from a City-owned site, without consent from the City… Pirates Club does not have the requisite authority to grant such consent,” said Botes.
Chair of the Pirates Club, Lloyde Hanson, responded to Botes saying, “I and Pirates Club have always maintained… that Pirates was entitled to allow WastePreneurs to occupy the land within the terms of the lease, specifically under clause 7.1.1.”
Botes claimed that Hanson had alleged in the past three years that the City had granted the WastePreneurs consent to operate from this site. Hanson denied this, challenging Botes to prove this accusation.
Botes also said that Hanson alleged that the reason for the cancellation was the culmination of efforts by the City to charge rentals of between R75 000 to R125 000 per month, while Pirates paid R18 520.87. Hanson denied this.
During Rosebank Killarney Gazette’s discussion with Hanson, he said that he was paying in the region of R18 000.
Botes said the WastePreneurs held discussions with MMC Leah Knott earlier this year were they were advised to identify land for waste recycling purposes, however, WastePreneurs did not identify any suitable properties in the past eight months and instead applied to lease the existing property, which the City had leased to Pirates Club.
Botes said, “The surrounding community has objected to the land being utilised as a waste recycling site as waste is being sorted and dumped in the public open spaces within the vicinity and living within the environmentally sensitive spaces.”
Hanson responded saying that the allegation has no substance to support it. “My experience is that many residents are in support of the WastePreneurs project for many reasons… The waste pickers were operating in the area prior to the establishment of WastePreneurs.”
In a statement released by the City, they stated that the WastePreneurs initiative and other similar initiatives perform a valuable function in society, but they should operate within the confines of the law. The City also stated that the site from which WastePreneurs operates does not have environmental authorisation.
Botes said the City has initiated a programme to find a workable and sustainable solution for the waste-recycling problem, which will assist the City in disposing of its waste, taking into account the recyclers’ contribution to this.
The City said in the statement, “At no point was Pirates given an eviction notice.”
The statement also said that on 2 September, Pirates were given another 60 days to remedy the breach of their contract by asking WastePreneurs to vacate.
The statement read, “We have not entered into any litigation against the Club as we remain hopeful that Pirates, with its remarkable history as a key sports institution in Johannesburg, will heed the request to comply with the law and terms of our agreement.”
Hanson stated that the club would regretfully give 90 days eviction notice to WastePreneurs on condition JPC gave Pirates written undertaking to withdraw the cancellation notice. Failing this, Pirates would continue to legally compel the JPC to comply with the lease and follow the dispute clause procedure Pirates has cited.
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