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The Makhado Municipality confirmed last week that the current process of debushing the area north of Stubbs Street in Louis Trichardt’s controversial “Green Belt” area is for the installation of service infrastructure for Extension 9. Follow-up questions regarding what the project entails remained unanswered this week. What could be determined is that this project is a combined Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) and Makhado Municipality project for the provision of 420 house connections.

Develop and be damned?

Date: 09 April 2022 By: Andries van Zyl

The Makhado Municipality seems to have opted for a “develop-and-be damned” approach by beginning to install service infrastructure in Louis Trichardt’s controversial “Green Belt” area north of Stubbs Street. In the past, residents and environmentalists have vehemently opposed attempts to develop the area.

For the past two weeks, since workers were first spotted denuding the area and digging trenches, the Zoutpansberger has struggled to get information about the project from the Makhado Municipality. On Friday, 25 March, Makhado Municipality’s spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, was asked to explain what was going on. Only a week later, on 1 April, and after several follow-up requests to respond, did Bobodi comment. “The debushing is being done by the municipality as a layout preparation for the installation of service infrastructure for Extension 9,” Bobodi merely stated.

On Monday morning, a list of questions was sent to Bobodi asking him to elaborate on his comment. The newspaper wanted to know, among other things, if the development was self-funded or being done by private developers. If private developers are doing this, who are they and did they follow the necessary procedures, such as conducting an environmental impact assessment (EIA)? We also pointed out that a local company called Day Break Properties 7 (Pty) Ltd (DBP7) had been awarded the tender (Tender 47 of 2004) to develop the area at a purchase price of R15,3 million. The development proposal includes a large shopping centre, a 150-bed hotel, and an office complex. Regarding this, Bobodi was asked if the current activities on the site formed part of DBP7’s development. He was also asked if they foresaw any opposition from environmental groups and/or legal complications with the current process of installing service infrastructure on the site.

Bobodi was requested to respond to these questions before the close of business on Tuesday, 5 April. By Wednesday morning, no response had been received and Bobodi was again asked if he could respond by 10:00. To this, Bobodi replied: “I am sorry, I am unable to.”

His response begged the question: What games are the Makhado Municipality playing now and why the secrecy? When the Zoutpansberger last wrote about the proposed DBP7 development in the specific area in April 2016, the newspaper had to wait three months for a response.

What is clear, however, is that the current activities on the site have nothing to do with DBP7. This was confirmed in an interview with the company’s sole director, Mr Vino Ramjee, on Tuesday.

“This development is news to us. According to our Deed of Sale, all infrastructure inside the boundary is for our expense. Nobody contacted us. What they are doing there is done without our consent. They have actually contravened the EIA already because they are just bulldozing everything. We are responsible for everything that happens inside the area,” said Ramjee. He added that they had already instituted legal proceedings against the municipality. “We already appointed two advocates. One is an expert on contract law and the other an expert on suing. I have already sent them the legal papers,” said Ramjee. The advocate’s first order of business will be to apply for a court interdict to prevent the project from continuing. “That is the only way,” said Ramjee.

DBP7 signed the Deed of Sale for the property with the former municipal manager of the Makhado Municipality, Ms Faith Muthambi, on 27 November 2006. The company was given approval to go ahead with their proposed development in December 2012. Since then, the project has become dormant. The reason for this, Ramjee said, is the municipality’s inability to supply them with the electricity they need for the project. In the past, the Makhado Municipality communicated to them that they could not proceed with the development because of an insufficient electricity supply. In the meantime, said Ramjee, their project was side-lined by other major projects such as the upgrading of the Makhado Crossing Mall into a regional mall by the Masingita Group of Companies and the Bridge/Ford development next to the N1. “Everybody got electricity despite them [the municipality] giving us a letter that we are first on the list as priority to get electricity,” said Ramjee.

This inability of the Makhado Municipality to supply them with electricity, and bureaucratic red tape, later caused major investment partners in the project, such as the Moolman Group, to withdraw their support. “My attorney wrote them a letter two months back, requesting them about when we will get electricity?” said Ramjee. He apparently received no reply.
Why, then, would the Makhado Municipality not acknowledge Ramjee’s claim to develop the area? By Ramjee’s own admission, they have not paid a cent for the property since the Deed of Sale was signed. The reason for this, Ramjee said, was because of an addendum to the Deed of Sale that stipulated that they would only pay the R15,3 million (for which they had secured two bank guarantees for R17 million) when the municipality was able to supply them with electricity. This never happened. However, the Makhado Municipality did, according to Ramjee, start charging them rates and taxes on the property since the Deed of Sale was signed.

These rates and taxes, totalling more than R2 million, were also not paid by Ramjee. “The rates and taxes are in the name of DBP7, but how do you pay rates and taxes on a property that is not transferred to you?” said Ramjee. He said that with the municipality’s charging them rates and taxes, they acknowledged them (DBP7) as the owners of the property, for which Ramjee had applied for an extension of their initial 2015 EIA approval, which was granted by the Department of Development, Environment and Tourism and extended to 13 November 2023. At present, Ramjee said, they already have another major investor lined up for their proposed development. “We are just finalising the financial agreements,” said Ramjee. He clearly has everything to lose if his development does not take place.

Well-known local environmentalist Ms Inga Gilfillan is also very upset about the current developments. “I would like to see their [the municipality’s] EIA,” said Gilfillan. She said that what was of great concern to her was that when one destroys one part of a “Green Belt” area, all areas lower down are doomed. “The trees there act as pollution and sound barrier between residents and the N1,” said Gilfillan. Removing them would be disastrous, she said. “Private people, like those involved in establishing the Western Soutpansberg conservation area, do everything in their power to conserve. Then the government comes and destroys everything … They have done everything to destroy 
Louis Trichardt’s “Green Belt” area. First by allowing the Ford-development, then by erecting a fence around the tree park, and now allowing the development of the area north of Stubbs Street. They will not stop until everything is destroyed,” said Gilfillan. She urged residents to fight the proposed development of the area.

“Fighting” the current process of development might be harder than one might think. Firstly, the area was already promulgated as part of Louis Trichardt’s town-planning scheme in 1984. When the development was Gazetted on 9 May that year, the “new” sites in Extension 9 allowed for 179 residential erven, five parks and streets. Something different, however, seems to be planned for the area.

In the absence of transparency regarding the development by the Makhado Municipality, the Zoutpansberger had to find alternative means to find out what was going on. The development seems to be a combined Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs and Makhado Municipality project awarded to Rhandzo Projects (Pty) Ltd under contract number COGHSTAB19/18-19FY24. The contract description reads: “Conduct geotechnical investigation, design and install engineering services (water and sewer reticulation, grading of all roads, fire-hydrants and provision for house connections) for 420 sites.” The problem of how they will manage to fit in 420 erven in an area initially designed for 179 erven has many people wondering if this site will actually be for “low-cost” housing.

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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