Same rules apply to all

It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. Have you heard that statement before?

I first heard it many years ago and I have witnessed it proving true in many situations.

Consider a teenager whose parents don’t allow him or her to stay out past a certain hour, or borrow the car, or go somewhere they should not.

Asking mom or dad gets them nowhere, so they just do it anyway and deal with the consequences later.

It may be something we’ve all done at some point in our lives, even without knowing the saying.

But nowhere has it seemed more practised than in town planning issues.

Over 14 years of observing town planning applications that arise in council and ward committee agendas, I have seen this playing out again and again.

From unapproved home alterations, to encroaching on a neighbour’s boundary line or on municipal property, to operating a business without a business licence, to allowing a property to become derelict and an eyesore, to chopping down protected trees without a permit – these have all come before council.

The philosophy which has seemingly held sway in each case is that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

Oftentimes, after going through the motions of issuing compliance notices, the municipality simply accepts a “rectification” after the fact by the party in contravention submitting an application to do what they have already done.

Such is the case with the cell tower at a private residence in Tamarisk Road.

The matter was first brought to our attention by a concerned resident in May last year. There had been no notice about the tower going up, no approval sought from neighbours, and when we asked the municipality we discovered they had no knowledge of it.

At the time, municipal spokesperson Cecil Mbolekwa responded: “There was no application submitted to us, our inspectors will go and do an inspection and we will issue them with a notice.”

Well the tower stayed where it was and we heard nothing further.

Then on January 12, Port Alfred Residents and Ratepayers Association chairperson Dawie van Wyk alerted us to an application received by Ndlambe town planning on December 18, for departure and consent use for the very tower in question. He provided a copy.

This is seven months after the municipality said it would address the issue!

How was this allowed to progress to this point? The municipality has clearly failed to uphold its statutory obligations and its own bylaws regarding non-compliance with town planning regulations.