‘Grotesque MTN mast must fall’
● The City of Cape Town is quick to act when residents invade public property. But residents have been waiting more than four years for the council to withdraw from a public rooftop it “invaded” with a cellphone mast in 2016.
Despite repeatedly assuring residents it would remove the mast it authorised on the roof of the Clifton Fourth Beach scout hall, the structure is still in place, much to the annoyance of residents who objected to the tower and a lease deal with MTN. Now residents’ frustration has turned to fury after the failure of repeated attempts to resolve the matter, including reporting the matter to the council’s executive management.
As recently as June 29, the council said the tower would be removed — the third such assurance since residents objected on grounds that it contravened city policy on scenic routes and heritage areas.
The Clifton-on-Sea and District Bungalow Owners Association, led by lawyer Billy Gundelfinger, pictured above, is now demanding an investigation and has reported the matter to the public protector.
Gundelfinger said it was “unacceptable and completely outrageous” that the council had taken four years to implement its own decision to remove the mast.
“A grotesque MTN mast and infrastructure is perched on the roof of the scout hall, disturbing and destroying the scenic drive which the city so jealously guards,” Gundelfinger told the Sunday Times, adding that the council was quick to enforce compliance on other regulations governing bungalow owners. He said that it was now incumbent on the city to investigate its own defiant and unlawful conduct.
Last year MTN said it was aware of the dispute and was awaiting planning approval for an alternative tower site.
Correspondence in the possession of the Sunday Times shows the council first e-mailed the bungalow owners association on September 30 2016, claiming the tower would be removed “with the realisation of the Clifton Precinct Upgrade project”.
In June this year, the council told the association “construction of the alternative cellphone mast should begin in July 2020”.
Responding to Sunday Times queries, council spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said there had been a delay in obtaining approvals for an alternative mast site — which had now been achieved.
In 2017, the bungalow owners association was part of a chorus of protest against a council decision — subsequently cancelled — to sell a prime slice of coastal property between Clifton and Camps Bay to a development consortium for more than R1bn. The site had been earmarked for a hotel, shops and upmarket homes.