Tenants battle caravan park eviction notice

ABOUT 200 lease holders at the De Mond Caravan Park in Hermanus face eviction sooner than expected after the Overberg Municipality ended their tenant agreement and threatened to cut off their electricity yesterday.

In an ongoing battle between tenants and the municipality about the extension of lease agreements, officials said they have given the association until or before May 31 to vacate the resort.

Six years ago the Municipality put De Mond Caravan Park up for a tender.

A tenants’ association was formed soon after.

One of the tenants, who asked not to be named, said her family has been leasing a chalet in the resort for 26 years. On Wednesday evening they received an e-mail which stated that the municipality would be switching off the electricity supply yesterday.

In an e-mail sent from De Mond tenant association chairman Johan Cilliers on Wednesday evening read: “Our lease agreement, which expired on February 29, 2010, will not be renewed and the electricity supply will be cut off on March 1.”

Cilliers also stated that their attorney replied with a letter to inform the municipality that the power cut was unjust and they agreed not to cut the electricity supply yesterday.

“We were shocked to get the news that we wouldn’t have electricity. In December last year, during our annual meeting, they announced the possibility that our contracts could be extended for the next three years. We weren’t given any notice before the mail,” she said.

Overberg Municipality spokesman Fanie Krige said the municipality’s decision not to renew the lease contracts came after a thorough evaluation of infrastructure.

“It revealed that it (the resort), which was the responsibility of the association to maintain, was in a bad condition and therefore the municipality decided not to renew the contract,” he said.

Krige said the Overstrand Municipality planned to redevelop the resort by entering a private public partnership based on preliminary studies.