City silent on ‘probe’ of illegal suburb
GroundUp
When Ground Up started asking questions last year about Leeuwfontein, an illegal suburban development in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, the City of Tshwane said it had issued contravention notices to the land owners and launched an investigation.
Seven months later, Ground Up sent a list of questions about the investigation, only to receive a one-line e-mail from the “media team” saying: “In all important respects, this is a complex investigation and it is ongoing.”
But Leeuwfontein residents said no investigator from the city has come to interview them.
It is estimated there are about 300 households and development continues. A number of residents have built large houses. They are anxious and currently living in limbo without title deeds. Besides a water truck, they have been without municipal services for some for six years. They also allege that they were misled when they purchased their plots.
They said they had hoped the city’s investigation would eventually lead to the suburb becoming formalised, that they would then get title deeds and services would be rolled out.
“I really doubt the city has launched an investigation,” said Lebogang Motibe, who bought her plot for R94 000 in 2018. “I have never seen anyone from the city coming here to investigate.”
A resident, Mandla Mthimkhulu, said: “You cannot investigate the illegal sale of land for such a long time without contacting us, the victims, and the person who sold us plots. I know formalisation of an area takes a long time, but an investigation into the illegal sale of land should not last for so long.”
In June last year, city spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the land owners are Mirror Development Projects Trust (now named Mirror Developers), owned by Malesela Marema. They also provided the name of one other individual and an obscure company, neither of which could be traced.
Marema, who confirmed he had sold the plots, said Mirror Developers had applied to the city in 2010 for the establishment of a township and submitted all the requirements in person. After he received no response, he again submitted in 2013 and has been receiving communication from the city since then. But he also said no city investigator had contacted him since it announced its probe last year.
Ward 93 ANC councillor Rabasotho Masupha said he was working with plot owners to “find a solution … which is around the noncompliance of the Township Establishment Act”. He said he wanted the provincial government to resolve the legal tangle.