Leaders of the Afrikaner community in Kleinfontein, an informal settlement near Pretoria, accused the City of Tshwane of delaying the rezoning process, despite the community's long-standing presence on land initially zoned for agriculture.
This came to light during a visit by uMkhonto weSizwe party leaders to the settlement on Monday, where they were informed that the community's application to formalise the settlement has been pending with the municipality since 2011.
Rian Genis, chairperson of the board of directors, alleged that the city has made empty promises to address their application through previous executive mayors, without taking concrete action.
“Every single mayor prior to the DA mayor promised us that they will assist us to formalise the settlement. We have a formalisation application that is pending and that formalisation application has been pending since 2011,” he said.
He said the community is self-sufficient, having built its own sewage plant, water boreholes, and handling refuse removal independently, rather than relying on the municipality for services.
Recently, he said, the board of directors met with Tshwane's deputy Mayor Eugene Modise about rezoning, and Modise later posted on X that he had spoken with them.
In a television interview, MMC for Human Settlements, Aaron Maluleke, said there is an August 2024 court judgment by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, which ruled on the township's status after debates over whether the governing body had submitted necessary paperwork regarding land use.
Maluleke said given the lack of submissions and approvals acknowledged in court the city has classified Kleinfontein as an illegal township, effectively categorising it as an informal settlement
He said according to the court verdict the City was required to act against the founders of Kleinfontein's governing body, but it opted to engage with them, instead.
“Tshwane was supposed to take action against the illegal activities taking place there with regard to building plans and other services that they have connected themselves because in the long run there will be a degradation of the environment and contamination of the underground water because people are using septic tanks that are not approved by council,” he said.
He explained that Kleinfontein is zoned for agriculture, and while people can own properties, they can't necessarily use them for residential purposes without rezoning.
“It needs to be properly rezoned so that the city can start collecting rates and taxes. We have lost millions of rands (in revenue collection). We want to work with the community there to make sure that we are collecting what is due to the city because we need that money to build social infrastructure for many communities there including them in the Klipfontein area,” he said.
He promised to work together with the community of Kleinfontein to “regularise them”.
Kleinfontein spokesperson Dannie de Beer said in a TV interview that as part of the rezoning application they submitted all required documents, including wetland investigations and zoning plans.
He welcomed the MMC's commitment to take ownership of the Kleinfontein issue, turn it into a solution, and formalise the settlement.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za