Another (partial) victory….

Development plan sparks outrage

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20081205110201169C507038

5 December 2008, 12:52
By Heinz de Boer

There were howls of protest when the eThekwini Municipality resolved
that it would compel landowners to allow the city to provide toilets and
water to squatters who invade plots of land.

The decision on who will ultimately foot the bill has not been
finalised, although each case will be decided on individually.

It was one of the smallest, yet controversial items on the agenda on
Thursday at the last full council meeting in 2008.

The recommendation was pushed through with the support of all political
parties besides the DA.

Tabled as a “response to the lack of sanitation facilities in informal
settlements located on private land”, the adoption of the item has paved
the way for Water and Sanitation head Neil Macleod to serve notice on
“errant” landowners who do not comply with the council resolution.

Residents who turn a blind eye to the notices could expect municipal
engineers to step in and provide the essential services at a cost to the
general rate paying public.

Councillors had earlier approved a R175-million budget, to be spent over
the next two years, to provide temporary toilet facilities and sewer
connection for 318 informal settlements.

Municipal plans to force the general public to pay for squatters could
however be compared to a “land grab”, the DA said.

An attempt to have the recommendation altered to give homeowners the
option to refuse water and sanitation services to be installed on their
property was outvoted by the ANC and its allies.

“There are people who cannot afford to fence their land; and they don’t
wish to have these informal settlements on their land.

“By going in and putting in these facilities it amounts to a land grab.
People should be afforded the right to say, ‘not on my land’,” DA
councillor Gillian Noyce said.

But ANC Councillor Sipho Khuzwayo said all landowners were not victims
of squatting, with some actively encouraging the formation of informal
settlements on their land to turn a quick buck.

“We find that the landowners are benefiting from the people because they
charge rent. So they must be forced to provide them with sanitation
facilities because they benefit financially.

“The DA was suggesting a reference back (to have the item discussed at
executive or committee level before being voted on at full council),
because there are no white people in informal settlements,” Khuzwayo
said.