his article was originally published on page 6 of Daily News on November 01, 2006
EThekwini councillors signs pledge over land
Bongani Mthembu
November 01 2006 at 02:55PM
The eThekwini Municipality’s attempts to prevent the mushrooming of informal settlements and illegal building took another step this week when councillors were asked to put their heads on a block by signing pledges that force them to do everything in their power to prevent these illegal activities.
Failure to abide by the pledge, will be deemed to be a breach of conduct for councillors and will be dealt with accordingly.
The municipality’s pledge form was drafted after there were rumours that some councillors condoned the invasion of land.
One of the incidents where the councillors were accused of inciting the community was the invasion of municipal land in Chatsworth’s Crossmoor area two months ago.
Councillors were accused of inciting people
The councillors, whose names were not divulged, were accused by council of “encouraging the mushrooming of shacks” in the area and the city fathers threatened to take disciplinary action against them.
The councillors were accused of inciting people to occupy the land.
The Democratic Alliance’s Devan Naicker confirmed two months ago that he had been accused of inciting the community, but denied the allegations. Some of the invaders are still occupying the land.
In a pledge form that was signed by all 200 councillors on Tuesday, they committed themselves not to encourage anyone to illegally occupy council property or build shacks on both council and privately owned land.
They also undertook that they would do every thing in their power to prevent anyone, regardless of affiliation, from putting any illegal structure on any piece of land and also to report such activities to the relevant structures such as the council’s land invasion unit or the police.
All parties did not object to the signing of the pledge and there is a feeling among councillors that the move will go a long way in preventing illegal buildings and shacks.