City vows legal action against protesters

THE CITY has vowed to pursue legal action against Reclaim the City if the group continues holding demonstrations regarding the “botched” auction of a piece of property on the Foreshore.

Reclaim the City said the City had threatened to take them to court should they continue to protest about Site B.

“The instruction is that Reclaim the City is using forms of victimisation and intimidation against these officials in and it inter alia, made public statements. The actions of your members pose as a serious threat to the safety of the officials, their families and to their property,” said City legal advisor Antoinette Markram.

Earlier this year, Ndifuna Ukwazi obtained documents which raised serious questions about top City officials implicated in a so-called botched auction of the land.

The City gave notice in local newspapers of an application by Growthpoint Properties Limited to develop Site B on the Foreshore.

Growthpoint plans to develop a 100m skyscraper.

What caught the organisation’s eye in the City’s notice was that Growthpoint had asserted it already had the rights to build 46 000m² of bulk on the land.

The balance of the floating bulk on Blocks A and B is therefore approximately 46 000m² and is available in the area described as Block AB, which includes the site of the Icon building.

When Block B1 was bought by Growthpoint, it only purchased 17 500m² of that bulk at a cost of R86.5m, which equates to R4 942 per bulk m² – a fair price for inner-city land.