On Friday, October 10 an illegal building was demolished in Hertzog Street. In an effort to rid the city of illegal structures, that not only overpopulate but overburden an already fragile infrastructure, the municipality in collaboration with the Building Section, Law Enforcement Unit, Red Ants, SAPS and also the SPCA, set out to continue an ongoing operation.
The demolition project kicked of on September 22 in Vosman where the first illegal building was razed to the ground. After a few weeks, the municipality received more court orders to proceed removing illegal structures within the city.
“As reported previously, the process to correct illegal buildings and other contraventions in terms of the Land Use Management Act is a thorough process, allowing owners ample opportunity to correct the contravention by either stopping the illegal use and amend the building to comply, and to apply for extended rights to allow for the activity. In all cases land owners are approached, given notices to comply, following a final notice where-after the courts are approached,” Mr Theo van Vuuren, city administrator, stated on his Facebook page.
Van Vuuren explained that the intention of this project is not to harm, but to ensure compliance to rules and legislation.
“These rules are made to ensure an environment appropriate and conducive to a fair standard of living to those who are staying or using an area. If everything fails, the last option is to ask the courts for a demolition order to remove the illegal structure, at the cost of the owner.”
Positive feedback was received from the community, after the recent demolition in Hertzog Street. Many shared the feeling that it had been too long that homeowners got away with running illegal guesthouses and businesses in residential areas.
“For too long property owners have ignored all rules and legislation and have, mainly for profit, allowed illegal activities to happen on their properties. Also for too long the municipality was not able to enforce the rules. All of you are witnesses on a daily basis to boarding houses, shebeens, workshops, storage places, parking for heavy vehicles, etc, all over in especially residential areas. These activities, most of the time, also have no regard for building regulations and this leads not only to noise and other problems, but also to the overburdening of infrastructure, leading to sewer blockages, electricity outages, degrading of roads etc,” Van Vuuren continued.
“Since last year an important element of the turn-around strategy of my administration was the restoration of law and order in our city. Various campaigns and operations have been launched, including the application of bylaws in a strict manner by the established law enforcement unit, strict follow up on illegal trading, removal of illegal electricity connections, issuing notices to people who are transgressing bylaws and building regulations etc. More than 1 000 notices have been served and more than 40 cases have been referred to court where no cooperation from land users could be obtained.”
The house that was demolished on Friday had been a thorn in the municipality’s side for a long time. The massive structure had more than 40 back rooms and required a large team to bring it down.
As always, safety was considered first and members of the SAPS and Law Enforcement stood by to keep people out of and away from the premises. The SPCA was also called to the scene to make sure that no animals were harmed.
“We made sure that the neighbours’ animal where kept within their homes during the demolition,” SPCA inspector, Mpho Mokwena, said.
Everyone who was involved in the project was thanked for their help in ridding the city of one of its major problems.
“Everyone who has profited from our community through illegal activities and non complaint structures and land uses, please take note that this process will continue to be rolled out aggressively. Take notices served on you seriously please. Once we have obtained a court order the time for talk will be up,” Van Vuured ended with a final warning.
The following further court orders have already been received and action will follow soon:
3609/14 1966 X10 24 Danie Mala Street Court order granted
334 X1 31 Plumer street Court order granted
3041/14 court order granted
3027/14 249 X1 Court order granted 10/10/14
2862/14 3837 X27 O. R Tambo ( Swartbos road Celias street Court order granted
2860/14 712 X 3 18 Hertzog street Court order granted
2864/14 806 X 5 11 Montgomery avenue Court order granted
2865/14 709 X 3 24 Hertzog street Court order granted
2861/14 708 X3 26 Hertzog street Court order granted
3037/14 238 X1 12 Van der Venter street Court order granted
2866/14 2090X10 10 Stanford street Court order granted
5823/14 805 X5 9 Montgomery avenue Court order granted
2863/14 702 X 3 38 Hertzog street Court order granted
2938/14 908 X5 908 church hill avenue Court order granted
2859/14 1938 X10 10 Ben Viljoen street Court order granted
2872/14 1902 X10 Watson street Court order granted
2936/14 703 X 3 36 Hertzog street Court order granted
2869/14 1898 X 10 10 Danie Malan str Court order granted
3607/14 704 X3 30 Hertzog street Court order granted
327 X1 44 French street Court order granted
2868/14 1926X10 1 Ben Viljoen street Court order granted
3040/14 396 X1 13 French & Robertson str Court order granted
3048/14 Court order granted
581514 711 X3 14 Hertzog street Court order granted
2870/14 707 X 3 28 Van Reenen avenue & Hertzog street Court order granted
2939/14 1900 X10 3 Gideon Scheepers str Court order granted
