The City of Tshwane says zoning penalties against Kleinfontein are fair and consistent with hundreds of other illegal land-use cases.
In the “Pretoria’s gated Afrikaners” article in The Citizen last week, the allegations made by former AWB leader Jan Groenewald and Kleinfontein deputy president Dannie de Beer, that the City of Tshwane is not respecting zoning legislation or that penalty rates implemented against the illegal Kleinfontein township are politically motivated, are untrue.
The same penalty rates applied to the Kleinfontein farm have also have been implemented against hundreds of other properties across the metro where illegal land use is taking place.
In July, the City of Tshwane’s multiparty coalition government took a report to council identifying 713 properties where illegal land use activities have been confirmed and where landowners have not rectified the activities or zoning.
Non-permitted land use rates – the so-called penalty rates – have been implemented against these hundreds of properties as a result.
The hundreds of properties listed for non-permitted land use rates are in, among other suburbs, Alpenpark, Arcadia, Atteridgeville, Bon Accord, Eersterust, Elandsfontein, Ga-Rankuwa, Hartbeesfontein, Hazelwood, Kameeldrift, Kleinfontein, Kudube, Laudium, Magalieskruin, Montana, Moreletapark, Olievenhoutsbos, Onderstepoort, Pretoria Central, Silverton, Sinoville, Soshanguve, Waterkloof and Zwavelpoort.
The article published on 2 October seeks to suggest that the whites-only Kleinfontein property is being politically targeted, but this is obviously untrue.
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These false suggestions only serve to promote racial divisions and undermine our democracy.
The facts are that Kleinfontein is on land zoned for agricultural use.
Agricultural zoning permits only one dwelling per farm (with a second by application), but Kleinfontein has more than 600 dwellings.
Township establishment laws are designed to prevent chaotic urban sprawl and ensure that the city’s infrastructure keeps pace with development.
When an estate is established legally, the developers contribute to the cost of expanding roads, water, sewage and electricity services.
Those costs are passed on to property purchasers.
When a development happens illegally, the developers may seek to avoid those contributions towards critical city infrastructure, as well as costs of subdivisions and environmental impact studies.
Legal township establishment processes also protect residents, ensuring homes are not built on unstable land or in environmentally vulnerable areas.
Furthermore, in some illegal estates there has been no formal subdivision of the land.
This means that residents may not legally own their erfs, exposing them to potential legal jeopardy.
Allowing unregulated urban development promotes urban sprawl and risks destroying agricultural land or biodiversity, which can weaken food security and ecological resilience.
Legal township establishment processes protect our city, our environment, our food security and the purchasers of the homes.
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