Questions raised over Harkerville demolition
HARKERVILLE - Bitou Municipality is aware of the criminal charges laid against its officials over the demolition of a structure in Harkerville on Saturday 19 September, says Melony Paulsen, Bitou's Director of Community Services.
Marlon Davids, who said he built the structure on municipal land after receiving the go-ahead from a community leader, laid a charge of malicious damage to property against Bitou Municipality law enforcement officials, saying the structure was demolished illegally. Paulsen said the municipality denies any liability or wrongdoing "as there was no malice in our conduct".
Davids, who is a resident of Knysna, said the structure was built in the area where he grew up, called the Barracks. He claimed the structure was "95%" complete and he was in the process of moving in. There are also other structures on the property that were not demolished.
According to Paulsen, Davids had erected an incomplete structure on council land without any consent from Bitou Municipality. "The structure that he built was not used by him as a dwelling or for the purpose of providing shelter against the elements, and for that reason, no court order was required for demolition and no notice of intention to demolish the structure was required."
If a community member has sold the portion of land to Davids, the sale is illegal and Davids has recourse against the community member to recover his money, Paulsen said. "Bitou Municipality has formed an anti-land invasion unit, which is part of the law enforcement division, to combat illegal land possession in all Bitou municipal precincts," Paulsen said. "The purpose of the unit is to prevent illegal land grabs, unlawful occupation of council land and the uncontrolled mushrooming of informal settlements, which places a tremendous strain on council resources as these illegal land invasions often take place in areas where there are no services available."
Suing and countersuing
The case was registered at the Plettenberg Bay Police Station and Davids was granted a case number. Davids said he was told by the investigating officer that the municipality was looking into charging him with trespassing.
Davids is unhappy that the Bitou Law Enforcement unit had broken down the house "without a warrant or permission from the owner". He said he had grown up in the Barracks and had received permission from a community leader to build a house there.
He was alerted to the fact that the structure was being demolished, but by the time he arrived at the
spot on Saturday afternoon, the law enforcement personnel had left the area.
There is another house that belonged to a friend who had had a fallout with the community leader, according to Davids. "It could have been that they demolished the wrong structure," said Davids, adding that he did not know who had issued the order to demolish his house. "Bitou Municipality is preventing me from occupying my house and I'm holding them responsible for any damage and costs incurred by their actions."
Davids said the municipal manager, Mbulelo Memani, called him on Tuesday 26 September to establish his complaint.
Davids said Memani informed him that he did not have permission to build on the land and did not want to address Davids' question about all the other dwellings on the property, for which Davids said no permission had been granted by Bitou Municipality to build. At the time of going to print, police had not yet provided feedback on the case.