Hell-house at quarry demolished – next burn the land
Monumentpark and Waterkloof Ridge residents have won the first battle against illegal squatters in the quarry by demolishing a house on the property - but it is only the beginning. The next step is to burn the land.
Monument Park and Waterkloof Ridge residents have won their first battle against squatters at a quarry in Skilpad Street.
A house, that stood a few meters from the entrance to the quarry, had become a hell-hole of drug abuse, cheap sex and even murders. Last Thursday it was demolished and only rubble and trash remains, which include used condoms, empty cool drink bottles and other goods.
The demolition followed petitions over the past 18 months by residents demanding that the site be shut down. Some of the residents had fallen victim to crime elements who occupied the area.
Bronwynn Engelbrect, Democratic Alliance councillor for ward 42, said she had worked extremely hard to convince the city council that this house had become a health and danger hazard because nobody lived there. Instead it was used it for ‘entertainment purposes’.
Eventually the High Court in Pretoria issued an eviction and demolition notice, based on health violations documented by Tshwane metro, Engelbrecht said.
But this is only the beginning, said Engelbrect. “This place needs to be burnt to the ground.”
“Bring me the matches. I would be happy to burn it to the ground,” said Happy Meyer, one of the owners of this piece of land. “If I knew what I know now I would never have bought shares.”
Throughout the years the quarry has become a nest of illegal immigrants, said Engelbrecht.
Rob Hind, CPF chair for Sector 4, said: “The quarry remains an issue for the residents in the surrounding neighbourhoods in terms of direct correlation to crime, ranging from robberies, selling of drugs and alcohol, intimidation of residents – to name a few.”
This area is bushy and criminals make their beds deep in the ground to hide from the police. “There are approximately 1 500 people currently staying there,” said Engelbrecht.
Although Brooklyn police did not want to confirm it, there have been rumours of bodies found regularly in the area.
Combined operations between police, CPF, community and security services to eradicate crime in the area have resulted in frequent arrests. The history of the quarry, as it is known by residents, is very complex.
The piece of land, stretching over 52 hectares, used to belong to a mining company, but around 16 years ago they sold it to developers.
The original plan had been to rehabilitate and developed the land into an upper class residential area. But the shareholders of City Lake Marina, as the residential area would have been called, have been involved in a court battle for the past 13 years.
According to court documents, an agreement was reached in 1999 for Charter Developments to develop the quarry. The agreement was among stakeholders of City Lake Marina at the time, Yunnan Construction Engineering (60%) and Charter Developments (40%).
If Charter Developments had met certain requirements stipulated by Yunnan Construction Engineering, Charter Developments would have maintained the 40% shares of City Lake Marina on completion of the development.
However, Charter Developments did not deliver and was liquidated in July 2002 by liquidator Hendrie Marais.
Liquidated Charter Developments shares in the City Lake Marina was sold at auction in July 2002 to private investors Happy Meyer and Pieter du Plessis for R1.2 million.
Meyer said they were planning to sell the piece of land as soon as there was a verdict. “That would hopefully happen by the end of this month.”
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