‘˜– ”‡˜‘‡• ƒ’’”‘˜ƒŽ ‘ˆ Š—ƒ •‡––Ž‡‡– ’”‘Œ‡…–
MBABANE – Government has revoked approval for a multimillion Emalangeni human settlement project which was scheduled to be implemented at Hawane, about 30 kilometres from Mbabane.
This latest development has caused uncertainty to over 40 prospective property owners, who had shown interest in building homes in the area. The settlement area was to be known as the Stone Age Country Estate.
A total of 421 plots were made available by the developer, Mmeleli Estates (PTY) Ltd.
However, the developers have assured property owners and prospective buyers that there was no need to panic as the project would go ahead as planned.
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Clifford Mamba issued a public notice, stating that the developer was not meeting the requirements stipulated by the Human Settlements Authority Act of 1988 as amended.
Purchasing
“In March 2018, after observing that the requirements that were forwarded to the developer were not being met and, in the interest of protecting members of the public from purchasing additional plots that were unserviced, the Human Settlement Authority decided to halt further transfer of plots in the human settlement area,” the notice states.
Mamba further notes that the developer was notified that there would be no new plot registrations until the requisite infrastructure was provided, as per the conditions set out by the authority in its approvals and declaration.
“Having demonstrated a strong posture of non-compliance and lack of cooperation on the part of the developer, the authority resolved to revoke all approvals granted to this establishment in February 2021.”
The PS said further consultations had been made with various offices and departments such as the Attorney General’s Office, the Surveyor General’s Department as well as the Deed’s Registry, on the implications of the Human
Settlements Authority in the matter, which was revocation and cancellation of the approvals.
“Subsequently, after being notified of the authority’s position on the matter, the developer expressed intention to appeal the impending cancellation and revocation of the Human Settlement Approvals in August 2021, but never did,” the PS said in the notice.
He said it was on these grounds that the authority revoked the permission to establish the human settlement that was to be known as Stone Age Country Estate on Remainder of Portion 3 of Farm No.1205 at Hawane.
Also being revoked was the declaration of a human settlement as announced in the General Notice No.29 of 2015.
In the event there are claims and expenses to be secured from the cancellation and revocation of the approvals, the PS said such costs would be under the liability of the developer.
Mmeleli Dlamini the Managing Director of Mmeleli Estates PTY Ltd said his company was pressing ahead with the project despite the statement from government.
“We do not take the statement in a negative light. We just take it as government wants to see compliance from us, because it has taken too long to come to fruition. At the same time, we are not fighting government but are doing our best to comply,” he said.
Dlamini said the project would be implemented in three phases, the first costing E50 million. He said after every phase had been completed, government would be appraised of the developments until the finishing phase.
Responding to questions on how buyers were reacting to the statement, he said most of them understood what was going on.
“Due to the long period it has taken to bring the project to fruition, others have asked for their monies, saying they had eventually found alternative land. We have refunded them because we operate transparently,” he said.
On the issue of what the authority required of them, he said it was none other than infrastructure development, such as roads, streetlights, water, etc.
“All that is work-in-progress and we have a team of engineers who are busy with the infrastructure development,” he explained.
Developments
He said these and many other developments had been reported to government.
“This is why the buyers were also surprised when the PS issued the statement, because government had promised to consult them before taking such a measure,” he said.
He said the value of plots at the Stone Age ranged between E200 000 to E400 000 for the regular sizes.
PS Mamba did not respond to follow-up questions from this newspaper on the issue yesterday.
The Stone Age Country Estate is envisaged to be eco-friendly and green while qualifying for first world status quality, infrastructure, lifestyle, services and efficiency.
A website marketing the project states: “The developer is very proud that this project is going to positively affect the lives of millions of people in the country and region. It will create many opportunities such as job creation, wealth creation, high quality education standards, tourism, nature conservation and local community empowerment.”
Efforts to get comment from some of those who bought plots proved futile at the time of compiling this report.