The Emfuleni Local Municipality’s (ELM) Planning Department is being criticised by architects, drafters, and property owners, who claim that numerous approved building plans, including those for commercial, industrial, and residential developments, have been lost or damaged.

Outraged industry professionals say the department no longer has copies of many plans, blaming a history of negligent maintenance, administration, and filing that has damaged business and economic growth in the region, and creates a major barrier to investment in Emfuleni.
ELM did not respond to requests for comment.

The fallout has been severe. Property owners who need copies of their approved plans for renovations, compliance certificates, or property sales are being told that the municipality cannot assist.

Instead, officials reportedly insist that it is the owner’s responsibility to retain the original stamped plans, even when these were submitted and supposedly held safely by ELM’s Planning Department.

“This kind of bureaucratic negligence has direct economic consequences,” one local architect said. “Plans are having to be redrawn from scratch at great cost to the private sector, while development projects are delayed unnecessarily.”

Complaints have surfaced, where residents allege that obtaining copies of plans often requires paying “facilitation fees” – a thinly veiled reference to bribes. ELM has also not responded to requests for comment on this.

With Emfuleni already struggling under the weight of service-delivery failures, this latest scandal raises further questions about accountability, administrative competence, and the protection of municipal records that are essential for lawful property development and investment confidence in the region.