CLAIRWOOD is not for sale, according to residents as the municipality prepares to rezone the whole of Clairwood as a logistics area.
According to ward 66 councillor, Duncan Du Bois, the writing is on the wall for Clairwood eight years after the head of town planning, Soobs Moonsammy, said economic forces would determine its future.
“At the council meeting on 30 October, a town planning item on the agenda concerning Clairwood noted that the ‘municipality is considering amending the town planning scheme to allow logistics use for all of Clairwood sites as proposed in the back of port draft local area plan.’ Then at the meeting of the economic development committee on 13 November, chaired by the deputy mayor, the following item of the agenda was approved by the committee: ‘the rezoning of the Clairwood residential core for logistics,’” said Du Bois.
“The proposed rezoning of Clairwood core for logistic purposes is news to us. However the Clairwood Ratepayers and Residents Association (CRRA) is currently seeking legal advice on the options available to the residents of Clairwood,” said CRRA chairman Rishi Singh.
CRRA secretary, Mervyn Reddy added: “The city has always put economic expansions before its people. This is prevalent in many instances; however Clairwood is a historical area, one that must be preserved for posterity. There are temples, churches, mosques, schools and other facilities that are more than 100-years-old. Clairwood is not for sale and nor will residents move.”
The CRRA sent a resolution from the community to the municipality, but has not received a response. Reddy said the mayor and heads of departments failed to meet with the people and they will contest the rezoning.
“All the years of spin-doctoring and claims by those who prevail at city hall that no-one is being forced out of Clairwood are now exposed as mere rhetoric. The reality is that a century-old community is being squeezed out of existence. The outrage of the CRRA is quite understandable – disingenuousness has characterised Clairwood’s recent history,” said Du Bois.
“Frankly the city has failed this community. The CRRA speaks for all stakeholders in Clairwood and we say that we will fight to the bitter end to deliver Clairwood back to its people,” said Reddy.
