City still soft on dodgy builders, says civic

The City’s failure to crack down on illegal buildings mushrooming in Milnerton is a source of growing frustration for the community, says Bouwe van den Eems, the chairman of the Milnerton Central Residents’ Association.

Mr Van den Eems was delivering his chairman’s report at the association’s annual general meeting at the Milnerton Golf Club on Thursday November 14

In May last year, about 60 residents and representatives from various civic groups across greater Milnerton took part in a street march, calling for the City to investigate “illegal buildings, brothels and boarding houses” (“Call for action against dodgy developers,” Tabletalk, May 2023).

They presented a two-page memorandum to mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews. The memorandum said there were 160 illegal buildings in Milnerton and “too many to count” in Phoenix, and it called for Mr Andrews to, among other things, investigate how “illegal buildings” impact crime, infrastructure and property values.

At the AGM, Mr Van den Eems said Mr Andrews had established a task team, which had met quarterly, to address the issue.

“But unfortunately after the year, we discovered that this task team doesn't actually achieve anything, and we are not sure if the people from the City are actually working for us or against us in this case.”

Tygerhof Residents’ Association chairman Garron Gsell had queried several “irregularities” in the City’s development department, but “we are still waiting for the City to respond”, he said,

“I did call the corruption hotline; I enquired how the whole system works. The answer was we can log it, and they will send it to the City officials, and City officials will investigate. Now the City must investigate the City, which is problematic,” said Mr Van den Eems.

It was also concerning that the City wanted the public to submit affidavits detailing alleged corruption, but if the information was leaked it could put residents at risk, he said.

Calling the corruption hotline system was not safe and probably not effective to solve the problems, he said.

The residents in the task team had subsequently decided to use a private investigator and present a report to the City, he said. “So that doesn't need residents to be at risk, and it can create solid evidence that can be used for further steps,” added Mr Van den Eems

Mr Gsell told the AGM that residents across Milnerton and surrounding areas faced the same problem.

“What’s very unique about our problem is the links to organised crime, which was exposed last year in October with the assassination of property developer Shafiq Naser. He was assassinated on Bosmansdam Road. We warned the City about these developers, about the fact that they have got the links in organised crime.” (“Gunmen at large after developer slain in Milnerton,” Tabletalk, October 11, 2023).

He said nothing had been done about the memorandum handed to Mr Andrews.

"From the protest, we had six task team meetings, which had representatives from all ratepayers’ associations. One hundred and sixty properties were handed over, some of them are brothels, some of them have boarding houses, all of them were illegal. Zero progress in 18 months,“ he said.

In a statement sent to Tabletalk, Mr Andrews said he had advised the residents about the difficulties with building and land-use enforcement and the time it took to resolve complaints.

“I undertook to ensure that with the Municipal Planning By-Law under review, amendments will be introduced to enable confiscation of building materials on site where unauthorised building and/or land-use activities are taking place. Months later, amendments have been proposed for incorporation into the by-law, which will ensure effective enforcement i.e. strengthening visible enforcement which will address this public concern for communities across Cape Town,” he said.

While residents’ groups had frequently claimed to have proof of collusion between developers and the authorities, that proof had never been provided in writing, he said.

“Cases that were provided to the City were investigated, and where contraventions have been confirmed, such cases are receiving attention, and they are at different stages of the legal enforcement process. An updated feedback report will be shared with the relevant community representatives before the end of the year. It is acknowledged that the enforcement processes are often lengthy as the City is dependent on external court processes to obtain compliance.”

...