Bennett questions city council’s proposed multimillion flats
‘Council entering area best served by the private sector’
MBABANE – Outspoken Businessman Walter Bennett is said to have filed an objection to the proposed construction of high-density apartments by the Municipal Council of Mbabane.
The businessman did this through a letter, which he wrote to the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Dr Simon Zwane.
According to a notice that was published by the PS early last month, the municipality is set to construct high-density high-rise apartments to be known as Mkhonubovu.
The notice stated that in terms of the Human Settlements Authority (Amendment) Act, 1992, UrbPlan & Environmental Consultants Pty Ltd on behalf of Mkhonubovu Property Development Pty (Ltd) had lodged an application with the Human Settlements Authority.
These, according to the notice, are proposed for the establishment on Plot 424 of Farm 2 situated at Checkers
Mbabane in the Hhohho Region. In the notice, the PS advised that plans, documents and information regarding the application were open to the public at the ministry.
Zwane also mentioned in the notice that persons who objected to the granting of the application or who wished to make representations regarding the proposed development should communicate with the Human Settlements Authority within a period of two weeks from the date of the publication of the notice.
A copy of a letter dated February 13, 2024 seen by this publication reflects that the businessman wrote to the PS in reaction to the notice.
LETTER
The letter was also copied to the Office of the Mayor, acting town clerk of Mbabane, Land Management Board and the Mbabane Ratepayers and Residents Association.
In the letter, he stated that he was objecting because he believed that the council allegedly did not handle matters with transparency and integrity.
The businessman cited the Urban Government Act, which provides that
all land intended for alienation must be advertised for inter alia if there were objections.
He mentioned that his concern was that parastatals or hybrids were now in competition with the private sector.
“The council is entering an area that is best served by the private sector yet it has a questionable record when it comes to projects,” he said.
QUESTIONABLE RECORD
He substantiated his claim that the council had a questionable record when it comes to projects by making reference to some of the projects which ended up not seeing the light of day and others which are yet to be undertaken.
One of those he cited was the proposed construction of a civic centre in the capital city, which has continued to be a thorny issue between the municipality and the ratepayers association.
During a council’s extraordinary meeting held last month, most councilllors made it known that there was no way that the Mbabane City Ratepayers and Residents Association could be involved.
The issue was part of the agenda and the plan was for the councillors to reach an agreement and give approval that a response be given to the association following that it raised a variety of concerns about the project.
Last year, the association argued that the nature of ownership of the land, and the style of the project’s tradeoff involving that land, completely negated the argument made by the council to the effect that the details of the agreement were legally out of the scope of the ratepayers and residents of the capital city.
PUBLICLY-OWNED LAND
The association argued that where a public sector entity engaged in the trading of publicly-owned land, the general public became a very important party to a contract.
The feeling of the association was that the council was merely an agent
responsible to central government for proper custody and control of that land.
In particular, the association filed a formal request to see the project agreement as part of its mandate to represent and protect the rights of thousands of ratepayers and residents.
Besides the issue of governance, Bennett alleged that the contractual agreement regarding the proposed construction of the apartments was not properly executed.
In particular, he made it known that he had questions about the joint venture, something he said he would elaborate once given a forum to speak to the objection.
TRANSPARENTLY
“It is my hope that this issue and related ones are dealt with transparently and with integrity,” he emphasised.
In a letter dated March 12, 2024, the PS responded to the businessman’s query by saying, “The ministry acknowledged your objection to the proposed development. Please note that the ministry is in support of public private partnerships or any other additional streams of revenue by urban local authorities instead of their over-reliance on rates.”
As per procedure, the PS said, the proposed development was advertised publicly to allow interested and or affected parties to submit their objections.
It appears that the businessman was not satisfied with the response from the PS.
When interviewed, he said when the advert was run in the newspaper; it was made clear that those objecting should do so within 30 days.
He said while he appreciated that the ministry, through the PS did respond to him and offered clarity, he was unhappy with the fact that it was done after the 30 days had elapsed.
PRESENT MY CASE
“It is good that the PS acknowledged my objection, but I wanted to be given the opportunity to present my case. In the case of the proposed civic centre, we were given the opportunity to attend a scoping meeting. I went there. We stated our points and this is what I expect even for this project,” he said.
When asked why he had reservations about the whole project, he mentioned that he was not sure if the municipality was able to select the right organisations to enter into joint ventures or PPPs with.
He said he believed that the municipality needed to do due diligence before picking its partners for joint ventures.
“I wrote to the ministry because I believe that it has to carry out its oversight function. I must also make it clear that when we raise concerns, even if we are from the private sector, it is to ensure proper use of taxpayers and ratepayers’ money,” he said.
It should be noted that the municipality had in the past engaged in joint ventures for different projects.
SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY
However, some of the projects either did not see the light of day or the agreements had to be terminated.
For example, in March 2023, after council approval, the municipality terminated a development agreement with JM BUSHA for the construction of a bus rank due to the failure to provide or prove that there was ability to finance the development project.
As a result, the council announced that it was to once again publish request for proposals.
Also, a development agreement was signed with Buna Group of Companies and this is for the proposed construction of the civic centre.