Johann Brummer Announces Candidacy for Bitou Ward 2

Filed under Press Releases by on 18/10/2012 at 3:39 AM {25 comments}

Press Release:

Johann Brümmer 300x190 Johann Brummer Announces Candidacy for Bitou Ward 2Over the past two months there have been numerous unfounded rumours, simple gossip and also downright untruths regarding my dismissal from the DA and Bitou Council. The time has now come to set the record straight.

After 12 years of service to the DA and this town I was purged from the DA on the pretext that I owed the party R5 621 in arrear candidates fees from the last election. The truth, however, is that I did not owe the DA a cent in candidates fees or anything else. The records show, unequivocally, that the DA owed me money at the time of my dismissal.

The real reasons for my summary dismissal from the DA relate to irregularities within the DA structures in Plettenberg Bay and the Bitou Council on which I blew the whistle. I refused to turn a blind eye to them and refused to be part of the cover-up of actions which will potentially cost the people of Plett millions.

I immediately submitted detailed reports supported by documentary evidence to the DA party structures and the relevant DA Provincial Ministers and the party leader, Helen Zille. Their ONLY action to date has been to dismiss me from the party.

I am informed that Liz Mundell has stated that I was going to be dismissed on disciplinary charges anyway. The DA has never brought disciplinary charges against me, nor have they ever had reason to. For her to claim otherwise is in direct conflict with the DA’s own affidavit submitted to court.

Liz also informed the DA meeting (on 15 October) that I have been “conducting a vendetta of revenge against those who fired him” (me) Again this is not true. I am taking legal action against the DA. The DA has caused personal and financial damage to me and I have all the right in the world to bring an action against it. According to the sworn affidavit from the DA, nobody fired me from the DA, it was an “automatic cessation of membership”, triggered by my alleged non-payment of candidate’s fees. How Liz can claim I am waging a vendetta against those who fired me is again in direct conflict with the DA’s own oath submission to court.

In the interests of brevity I will not go into any detail on any of these issues here, but I am willing to allow anybody who is interested access to all supporting documentation. I will also present the documentary proof at the “Primary” debate to be held @5:30 on 23 October in the Piesang Valley Hall.

I wish to confirm that I will be contesting the vacancy in ward 2 occasioned by the sudden and unexpected passing of Charles Dreyer, as an independent candidate and am not associated in any way with any political party, or any other interest group.

I also wish to set the record straight with regard to the false rumours being spread in this regard, as follows:

  1. I am not associated in any way with Mr Hardy Mills. Mills has always been a fervent ANC supporter and vehemently opposed to me. He is in fact closely associated with the other independent candidate, Francois Geldenhuys.
  2. Should the people of ward 2 elect me to council, I will continue to serve the people of Plett as I have done in the past.
  3. I will work with those other councillors who are also serious about bringing good, clean, efficient and transparent governance to our municipality.
  4. I will continue to root out maladministration, unlawfulness and corruption and will not, under any circumstances be a part of cover-ups or misinformation by any political party or person.
  5. My record shows that I have been subjected to abuse and victimisation by both the ANC and DA for speaking truth to power and putting the welfare of the town and its people first. I have never compromised on that and I never will. What I do on council will be to the benefit of the town and its people and will not be influenced by any other considerations or affiliations.
  6. It is highly unlikely that either the ANC or the DA will want to enter into a coalition with a councillor who stands for what I do. It is therefore a blatant untruth that I have already come to an agreement with anybody, least of all the ANC.

Johann Brummer
jwbrummer@gmail.com 

3 DA Members in Court on Corruption Charges

Filed under Press Releases by on 05/04/2012 at 8:54 AM {3 comments}

Putco Mapitiza

13 March 2012

Putco Mapitiza says accused tried to bribe councillor to vote for DA mayoral candidate in Eden District Council

NEWS STATEMENT ON THE APPEARANCE OF THREE SENIOR DA MEMBERS IN COURT ON BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION CHARGES

On Monday 12 March 2012, three senior DA members, Johannes Koegelenberg, Henry McCombi and Patrick Murray, appeared in the George Magistrate’s Court on charges of bribery and corruption. All were serving councillors when they tried to bride another councillor to vote for a DA councillor to be elected the mayor at the Eden District Council.

This development is interesting in that the saintly image that the DA has been portraying of itself is slowly and emphatically being unmasked.

The internal disciplinary hearing found all these DA members guilty. MEC for Local Government Anton Bredell, just like all previous cases, declined to relieve them of their duties because according to the DA culture any of their members found on the wrong side of the law are either framed by the ANC or subjected to a kangaroo court. Instead the corrupt members are rewarded to spite the process that adjudicated on the matters. A classic example is what happened in Bitou with their Johan Brummer.

The internal hearing panel was made of councillors from different parties and the findings against these people were unanimous. Interestingly, the current DA Mayor Wessie van der Westhuizen was amember of that committee.

As was required by law, this matter was referred to Bredell. He never acted and later claimed that he never received the report. He is on record as having gone to ANC-led councils to demand reports on matters that appeared in the media. This matter was in the media then but he never bothered to demand the report because his own party’s members were involved.

This is the clean administration that the province and the country is being told the DA is committed to. Under normal circumstances, we would be going to the Premier for intervention, but experience has shown that Helen Zille is as complacent and as uninspiring as Bredell. Instead of acting to correct this wrong, Zille will be accusing the ANC of lying about her party members despite the findings of a multiparty committee that included the DA.

We are also mindful that should these people be found guilty, Zille would lead a media-based attack on the courts, just like she did with the court’s findings against the DA in Bitou. And this is the same Zille who is accusing the ANC of wanting to curtail the independence of the courts.

Statement issued by Putco Mapitiza, ANC Regional Secretary, South Cape/Klein Karoo, March 13 2012

Helen Zille on Bitou and JEF’s response.

Filed under In the Media, Press Releases by on 25/02/2012 at 11:28 AM {15 comments}

JEF responds to the Statement released by the Premier and DA leader Helen Zille, dated 22 February 2012.

This statement is sadly by far the most disappointing and disheartening one yet in recent times.

DA: Statement by Helen Zille, Democratic Alliance leader, on the municiplaity of Bitou (22/02/2012)

Published 22 Feb 2012 on Polity.org

I will be requesting a meeting with the Western Cape Police Commissioner, Arno Lamoer, to discuss the problem of politically-motivated violence perpetrated against the DA-governed Bitou municipality after the alleged arson at the council’s head offices in Plettenberg Bay in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Why didn’t Zille request such a meeting when much worse happened during the period when the ANC governed the municipality? Countless houses were burnt down, public and private property was destroyed, many people were seriously injured, and tragically a one year old baby lost its life in the “cross-fire”.

This follows the call last year by the ANC’s Southern Cape Regional Secretary, Putco Mapitisa, for all DA-led councils to be made ungovernable.

JEF googled this alleged “call” by Mr. Mapitisa but could not find it. Will Zille please provide proof of this?

The effects of this call were acute in the first few months of the new DA-led Bitou council’s term, with the municipality being forced to get a court interdict to stop the ANC from disrupting council meetings.

As a journalist by profession Zille should know that feeding the public with misleading and false information is a serious offence. She is fully aware of the fact that this interdict was dismissed with costs and that four declaratory orders were granted against the (then) speaker in favour of the ANC councilors and the Municipal Law Enforcement Unit. The Cape High Court found that he (the speaker) was in fact the cause of all the disruptions due to his partisan, unlawful and UNCONSTITUTIONAL conduct. The court further ruled that the speaker fundamentally misunderstood his role as speaker. Moreover, the speaker had to withdraw his ill conceived and frivolous application against the South African Police Force, wherein he falsely accused them of not fulfilling their duties in assisting the speaker in executing his (the speaker’s) commands.

Sunday’s fire was started in the wing where both the mayor and municipal manager’s offices are based. A window was broken and flammable liquid was poured into a ground floor office.

This part of the building was probably targeted due to the highly-flammable dry-wall petitions used in the offices. Extensive damage has been caused to the building, including smoke damage stretching some 50 metres down the corridors.

This is just the latest incident in the continuing trend of political violence in Bitou:

Criminal charges have been laid against local ANC leaders in Qolweni for demolishing shacks belonging to supporters of other parties and forcibly removing people from the area

This is a blatant lie. JEF was present when the defence attorney asked the accused to which political party they belong and their answers were 2 DA, 2 COPE and 1 ANC. JEF was present when the SABC asked the crowd outside the court to which political party they belong and the answers varied from all political parties, even the IFP! Afterwards some of them presented their DA membership cards and said that they want to return the R50 they allegedly received when they joined the DA.

Executive Mayor Memory Booysen has received numerous anonymous phone-calls by people referring to him as a “dog” and threatening to kill him. Mr Booysen currently is forced to wear a bulletproof-vest.

JEF is convinced that this is a complete fabrication. Accusations against the DA, describing in detail exactly how they manipulate the system has yet to be countered or denied by the DA. The statement above seems to be the standard default reply every time they are confronted with hard facts, to which they have no answer. It’s their trusted evading response and plea for sympathy in an attempt to shift the spot light from them. According to a member of the public the manipulation strategy works as follow: The municipality informs National Intelligence (NI) that new threats to the mayor’s life were received. They are fully aware that the standard practice in such a scenario is that NI instructs the local police that there are new threats to the mayor’s life and that they must carefully monitor the situation. The municipality then “inquires” from the local police the status of the safety situation, knowing full well that they will be informed that the latest “intelligence” received from NI is that the situation is extremely dangerous and that there is a real threat to the mayors life. This is then communicated to the public and the media, with the explanation that the R240 000-00 per month bill for body guards is completely justified and “out of their hands”. The following questions still remain unanswered:

1. Why the mayor’s Security Company was appointed without following the required competitive bidding system at the time he was appointed as mayor?

2. Why did the then speaker, Johann Brummer, appoint them when this is expressly prohibited in terms of the law?

3. Why hasn’t the municipality since then (in 8 months), advertised the tender in order to rectify their deviation as required by law?

4. Why did the mayor attempt to appoint the same security company, again without following due process, in order to protect the entire industrial area when the protest got out of hand, and on the tax payers tab?

Local business leaders have gone on record during a meeting with the council to say that the ANC ward councillor in Qolweni is actively involved in orchestrating the violence

Recently, security has been stepped up at the home of Deputy Mayor, Adam Van Ryhner, after death threats were received

Here are the facts:

1. At the meeting one business owner said that he witnessed a black woman carrying two tires to the N2, in broad day light, in full view of everyone, and that this woman arrogantly taunted them (in Afrikaans), by saying that they will now see what will happen to them. He then “identified” the women (to the best of his knowledge) as an ANC councilor and even stated her name (to the best of his capability). When the “more informed” people at the meeting heard this ludicrous accusation, they all chuckled and the meeting immediately moved on to the next topic, without wasting one second on this amusing, yet ridiculous statement.

2. However, reporter Janine Oelofse decided to report this “breaking news” to the public.

3. In order to give it a bit more credibility however, the following report appeared in the media “One businessman, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, said his workers had identified an ANC councillor carrying tyres to a barricade in the industrial area during last week’s violence”

4. How this “journalist” can still maintain that she is unbiased, and even more puzzling, how any respectable newspaper can still accept and publish her articles, remains a complete mystery.

5. Death threats against whom again? Please….

It is clear from recent events that the ANC is actively involved in attempting to make the council ungovernable. This campaign aims to use violence and fear to undermine the work of the elected DA-led council. The DA will not be deterred by attempts to stop us from delivering opportunities and better services for all the people where we govern.

I look forward to taking this matter up with Commissioner Lamoer before it spirals out of control and lives are lost

It is clear that Zille and the DA refuse to accept the naked truth which is staring them in the face, and would rather dismiss it as a political conspiracy, in order to avoid addressing these annoying, but unfortunately for them, real and crucial issues. Why can’t Zille realize that for as long as she dismisses these issues as trivial, they will never disappear?

There’s an old saying in Afrikaans: “‘n benoude kat maak benoude spronge…”

Bitou: Brummer’s denials fool no-one

Filed under In the Media, Press Releases by on 09/02/2012 at 3:34 PM {3 comments}

Kenny Leluma asks why Premier Zille hasn’t acted over illegal Didata tender in Bitou

The DA’s Brummer is quoted in Sunday Times of February 5, 2012 as having said that his reference to Jeremy Ord of Didata in his email to senior DA officials as a ‘supporter’ was because the company did a “free assessment” of the municipality’s IT system, and that “politics has nothing to do with [illegal awarding of a contract]“.

He is also reported to have claimed that no tender was put out because the work was “an emergency”. He ended his response by saying that the municipality is “paying [Didata] something like R4, 2million but every cent is accounted for down to the last safety pin.”

The problem with Brummer, and the DA by extension, is that they think that they are intelligent while everybody else is stupid.

Brummer must explain what he meant by “free assessment” because there was none such a thing. Didata was asked by the DA to “look” into the system and give a quotation. This is confirmed by Thys Giliomee’s Memorandum to Booysen wherein he states that after doing an assessment, Didata submitted the total cost implications of R11.9m.

The municipality tried to get funding from the province. After being unable to get provincial assistance, “further negotiations were held with Dimension Data (7 Dec 2011). Didata was then asked to revise their specifications, and “the quotation was received early on 9 December 2012 (sic)”

From these it is clear that Didata did nothing for free. They “assessed” the system in order to write a quotation. And they ended up getting an illegal contract.

According to Giliomee’s Memo, Lefatshe was told in September 2011 that their contract was going to be terminated on 31 December 2011. We also know that Booysen wrote a letter to the public in September indicating two things.

First that the contract of Lefatshe was going to be terminated; and second that a DA MPL, Donald Grant met with Jeremy Ord of Didata and the two agreed that Didata would be involved in the IT system of Bitou. We also know that by October 4, 2011, Didata was given access to the municipality’s offices to make this “assessment”.

The request for deviation was made on December 12, 2011. That is more than three months after a decision was taken to terminate the Lefatshe contract. So, Brummer is lying when he says they didn’t put the work out on Tender because it was an “emergency“.

In the absence of a comparison with other companies, what is the basis of claiming that the municipality is getting a fair deal? Didata wrote own specification. This is confirmed in Giliomee’s memo.

Given the above irrefutable facts, it is obvious that Didata wrote specifications for the contract later awarded to them. The DA awarded an illegal contract to Didata. There were no reasons other than corruption not to put the work out for tender.

I have reasonable assumptions why the DA didn’t want to put it on tender. I’m however puzzled why a company as big as Didata can get itself involved is such a corrupt activity, or is this indication of how they had been making their money.

But there are two other issues related to this contract that have not been raised in the Sunday Times article, and maybe it’s because the journalists were not aware of them. The company was paid and started working without a contract between Didata and the municipality being signed. If it was subsequently signed, that was a result of them being aware of the media attention on the matter.

Lastly, Helen Zille was informed, and all documents given to her, of this corruption at least three weeks before the Sunday Times article but nothing was done about it. Maybe she has an explanation for that behaviour.

Kenny Leluma was political advisor to the ANC executive mayor of Bitou, under the municipality’s previous administration.

Article appeared on Politicsweb.

DA caught-out favouring Didata in Bitou – ANC WCape

Filed under Press Releases by on 09/02/2012 at 3:04 PM {3 comments}

pierre uys DA caught out favouring Didata in Bitou ANC WCape

ANC says DA caught-out favouring Didata

The Western Cape ANC says the DA in the province needs to come clean on allegations that it has given Dimension Data (Didata) a lucrative R4,3 million contract in exchange for “generous support” (see Sunday Times report).

The ANC also questions the redeployment of a DA cadre to Plettenberg Bay as the Bitou municipality manager to possibly cover up and give contracts to the DA suppliers and sponsors.

Mr Duppie du Plessis, former municipal manager in Stellenbosch, who left under a cloud after an alleged racist E-mail, now popped up in Bitou to oversee DA interests. He was not appointed by the Bitou council, but imposed by the DA’s provincial leaders for which they bent laws to deploy their cadre and exceeding all provisions for his tenure there.

ANC local government spokesperson Pierre Uys says: “The DA has been exposed for giving preference to Didata taking short cuts, breaking its own principles for the procurement process for such a large amount at the behest of the DA’s leaders. The relationship between the DA, Didata and a Didata chairman Jeremy Ord, who stays in Plettenberg Bay and is a DA backer, needs to be explained satisfactorily. So far the evidence is damning that the DA asked favours to benefit Ord and other highflyers.”

An expose quoted a letter between the DA and officials telling them of “Ord and others who have supported us generously” frequenting a certain restaurant, Lookout (which was in need of repair after a storm).

“The DA is caught-out again. It is clearly hiding something from Bitou and the Western Cape. This case also smacks of the award of a multi-million Rand communications contract to TBWA Hunt Lascaris as well as the many deviations amounting to hundreds of millions of Rand in the DA-led City of Cape Town. The DA does not want to get its house in order, and action should be taken to probe the DA abuse here and in other municipalities,” says Uys.

Statement issued by ANC Western Cape Chief Whip Pierre Uys, February 8 2012

Read statement on Politicsweb.  Also check out the comments. 

ANC Statement on the Refusal of the Western Cape Education Department to Release Audit Report for SCOPA

Filed under Press Releases by on 08/12/2011 at 9:22 AM {no comments}

When a learner in the Western Cape gets on a bus contracted by the Education Department to take them to school, are they safe, will they arrive at school that day?

On 24 August there was a horrific bus accident near Rheenendal, Knysna, in which 14 children and the driver lost their lives. The provincial government immediately blamed a roadworthy testing station and illegally closed it down.

Never in the outpouring of grief on this issue, has the provincial government made public that it was sitting on a report that says that the provincial education department was not fulfilling the terms of its contracts with the providers of learner transport, including the provider in Rheenedal. Clearly this is a matter of intense public interest.

In the same week where DA leader Helen Zille has made strident speeches about the Protection of State Information Bill and the public interest, her government defies the provincial parliament and a Scopa resolution by refusing to make the audit report to available to Scopa.

Even worse the chairperson, hon Pauline Cupido together with the DA members of Scopa, refused to stand by their own resolution and  succumbed to political pressure from their DA bosses by allowing the the department to make a presentation on the report, without even giving a copy of the presentation, let alone the full report, to Scopa. In refusing to defend the unanimous resolution of her committee, hon Cupido showed that she does not have qualities required to perform parliamentary oversight without fear or favour. Instead she kowtows to the DA executive, knowing that her position as chairperson depends on the DA. Truly the DA and ACDP in Scopa have deserted the principles of parliamentary oversight by refusing to hold the executive accountable.

The ANC will ensure that this report is made public. We will continue to pressurise Scopa to fulfil its constitutional role as a public watchdog. We are considering also making a Promotion of Access to Information Act request to order the department to release the report.

We will not rest until parents are assured that their children are safe in the hands of contractors of the WCED.

Issued by Max Ozinsky
ANC Spokesperson on Scopa, Western Cape Provincial Parliament.

Max Ozinsky Cape Town, South Africa

 

ANC Statement on Education Department Audit of Learner Transport

Filed under Press Releases by on 15/11/2011 at 1:02 PM {no comments}

On 24 August there was a horrific bus accident near Rheenendal, Knysna, in which 14 children and the driver lost their lives.

The immediate response of the provincial government was to blame the testing station which roadworthied the bus. This testing station was closed down by MEC Carlisle in person. This act by the MEC has subsequently been overturned by the High Court.

On 21 October the audit committee of the Department of Education reported to Scopa that, “the Committee expresses its concern with effectiveness of internal control in view of material deficiencies in internal control and non-compliance with certain laws and regulations, as identified by the Auditor-General… Five of the seven internal audit reports issued during the year under review contained recommendations to improve controls and enhance efficiencies. The reports covered leave management, learning and teaching support material, performance information, interim financial statements and learner transport.” (page 96)

Given the public interest generated by the unfortunate accident in Rheenendal, I asked the audit committee and department a number of questions with regard to the internal audit report on learner transport. In discussion in Scopa it emerged that the internal audit report recommended that the Education Department establish an independent bus inspection team to ensure that transport procured by the department meets the requirements of the contracts between the department and the service providers.

It also emerged that the report recommended that key posts in this regard be filled as soon as possible, as this independent bus inspection by the education department was not taking place. Scopa requested a copy of the internal audit report from the department. The department refused to make the report available and the Head of Department, Ms Vinjevold, told the committee that she would consult with the Premier before informing Scopa on the 25 October whether she would make the report available.

This deadline has passed and Scopa has made a number of enquiries to the department to get the report, but the report has still not been made available.  This defiance of Scopa and the proclaimed open policies of the DA government seems to indicate that the Premier and the department are trying to cover-up the findings of the internal audit report.

Given the scale of the tragedy in Rheenendal which has generated intense public interest, and the need of the families to know what happened to their loved ones, the ANC calls on the provincial Education Department to immediately make the internal audit available to Scopa, failing which the ANC will pursue other legal avenues to place this document in the public domain.

Issued by Max Ozinsky MPL, ANC Spokesperson on Scopa in the Western, Cape Provincial Legislature.

DA’s Disregard for the Law Proving Costly

Filed under Press Releases by on 19/10/2011 at 7:30 AM {9 comments}

DA government has no regard for Rule of Law

Robin Carlisle DAs Disregard for the Law Proving Costly
Robin Carlisle

The ANC in the Western Cape is enraged with the DA as yet another High Court case proves the DA provincial government has no regard for the Rule of Law or constitutionality.

In the latest instance the transport and public works, MEC Robin Carlisle was found to have readily rushed in and summarily closed down a business without following legal prescripts of administrative justice to allow for response (to make representations).

High Court judge Anton Veldhuizen granted an interdict to allow the business to continue after a month of closure pending a review application.

Chris Stali 150x150 DAs Disregard for the Law Proving Costly
Chris Stali

“The taxpayers must once again dig deep into their pockets for the costs. It is unacceptable that the DA government regularly loose High Court cases because it acts illegally or do not comply with legislation. If it does not rush into action such as this one, it unconstitutionally interferes with municipalities or even allows its office bearers to destabilise councils under its control with illegal actions, like in Bitou,” says ANC transport and public works spokesperson Chris Stali.

Carlisle’s actions borders on the absurd and sometimes he clowns around just for publicity and photos without having regard for the rights of people or circumstances. He is not above the law. He should stop his antics or go into retirement, says the ANC.

Statement issued by Chris Stali, ANC Western Cape transport and public works spokesperson, October 11 2011

Who Killed Development in Plettenberg Bay?

Filed under Press Releases by on 06/10/2011 at 12:08 PM {one comment}

Below is a report from Bitou Municipality dated 16 May 2011 (in other words at the time that Bitou was managed by an ANC council and Province by the DA). 

An analysis of the bigger (more than 10 units, and excluding subsidized housing projects) development applications that was submitted during the last 7 years shows that the Municipality supported proposals that made provision to increase the currently available residential erven/units by 5 165, and to create 168 new industrial erven.

Where the Municipality itself had the right to approve development, more than 1050 new units were so approved.

The Municipality also recommended a further 4 179 new residential units for approval by the Provincial Government (in those cases where the Municipality did not have the final say).

Of these, 1 393 were refused by the Provincial Government. However, this reflects a distorted picture, as a further 1 064 proposed units have also effectively been refused by the Provincial Government as part of the ‘EIA’ process – before the Municipality even had a chance to comment on those proposals. This brings the number of proposed units refused by the Provincial Government to 2 457.

The reality is that only 1 533 (37%) of the units supported by the Municipality have been approved by the Provincial Government. Even this creates an incorrect picture, as only two developments (the ‘Oasis project’ in Ladywood – 800 units, and the ‘Roodefontein Golf Course’ – 400 units) make up the bulk of the approval at Provincial level.

Once all information is available it on average takes the Municipality less than 2 months to refer new development applications for consideration by the Mayoral Committee. The average time taken by the Provincial Government to consider similar applications is 18 months. This delay is placed in context when it is realized that once the matter is referred to the Provincial Government all information is immediately available to them, and all that they need to do is to take a decision – and this on takes one-and-a-half-year.

Experience has shown that where there is no Provincial involvement and no need for any Provincial approvals, actual development occurs. There are numerous examples in this regard – ‘Santini Village’, ‘Upper Deck’, Monk’s View’, ‘Aquarella’, ‘Thulana Hill’, ‘Bowtie Estate’, ‘Mellville Corner’ extensions/parking garage, ‘The Square’ upgrading/parking level, ‘Green Point Mews’, various extensions of ‘Whale Rock’ (‘Whale Rock Village’, ‘Whale Rock Ridge’, ‘Whale Rock Sun’, etc), the new ‘Medi Clinic/Private Hospital’, ‘Schoongezicht Phase 3’, ‘The Hill’, etc.

On the other side of the coin is the development that has occurred as a result of approvals granted by the Provincial Government – a grand total of 20 units (‘Marine View’) during 7 years. This is the only development that has actually taken place in Plettenberg Bay based on an approval that was granted by the Provincial Government. Nothing else has materialized.

Existing rights allows for the immediate development of 695 residential units in Plettenberg Bay – no further approvals are required. A further 800 units have been accepted in principle by the Municipality (and can be approved immediately once all information is submitted by the developer), while approximately 900 vacant erven are also available for development. Unfortunately the developments rights for a further 490 units have lapsed (as these approvals were not exercised by the land owners/developers within the prescribed period).

The Provincial Government has refused a proposal for the creation of approximately 50 industrial stands close to Kwanokuthula, while Provincial ‘EIA’ approval is awaited for 112 industrial erven. Development rights are in place for a small industrial park (20 units) that could be developed immediately – no further approvals are required.

As far as rural residential development is concerned, application was made to the Provincial Government as far back as November 2005 to establish a ‘mixed use’ development project of approximately 1 000 units, with a strong focus on the agri-industry and socio-economic upliftment, close to Kurland. This landmark opportunity would have been the first of its type in South Africa. Unfortunately, the Provincial Government indicated during May 2009 that as the proposal does not comply with the Provincial Spatial Development Framework, it would probably not be approved. The irony is that in December 2007, two years after the ‘Kurland’ proposal, an application was submitted for a similar proposed development at Thornhill (Eastern Cape). This project was embraced with open arms by the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, and ‘Crossways Village’ was formally approved in May 2010.

BITOU MUNICIPALITY

16 MAY 2011

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