Obs residents cast their votes to end ‘civic capture’

A VOTE of no confidence was delivered against a property developer and an architect accused of trying to capture the Observatory Civic Association by allowing illegitimate members to vote them on to the executive committee in a bid to fast-track development deals.

According to Observatory resident Murray Hunter, the queue for registration “went down the street and around the corner”.

Two hundred voting members were admitted inside the venue and the meeting on Tuesday night was packed to capacity.

The meeting followed concerns that voters that elected the new committee at an annual general meeting on October 31 were not eligible to vote. This week’s meeting voted “unanimously to nullify the irregular AGM” of October.

Hunter said the meeting received a report on evidence of irregularities at the previous AGM, which resulted in three property developers being voted into key positions on the Observatory Civic Association.

Theo Kruger, director of TwoFiveFive architects, was voted chairperson, property developer Himmy Abader secretary and architectural technologist Tertius van Zyl member of the architecture and heritage committee.

“Irregularities included that various people had been registered to vote using false addresses (and) addresses which fell outside of Observatory or the business address of TwoFiveFive architects,” said Hunter.

Tuesday’s meeting met with controversy when two of the outgoing executive committee members received lawyers’ letters last week instructing them not to go ahead with the meeting or face legal action.

The management committee members that were voted out in the last AGM now sit on an interim basis and must call a new AGM within two months. There were no votes against or abstentions.

Kruger had not responded by deadline to questions sent via e-mail.