Aloe Ridge invasion hotly debated in final council meeting

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13-12-2022
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The Witness
Source

The item was a report tabled by corporate services for noting on Friday.

The proceedings of Msunduzi’s last council meeting of the year came to a halt for about 20 minutes when an item on the illegal occupation of the Aloe Ridge complex by military veterans came up.

The item was a report tabled by corporate services for noting on Friday.

It detailed issues that were raised when discussing the matter of illegal occupation of the complex and how it had affected the city’s revenue generation before the intervention by national government.

The issue of the recovery of debt for municipal services with regard to Aloe Ridge remained an outstanding issue for the audit committee. Committee members surmised that due to this being an issue riddled with political unwillingness, that this matter would continue to be one of those long unattended and ongoing outstanding matters.

Audit committee members emphasised that there needed to be comprehensive oversight on municipal rentals; in the absence of which council ran the risk of bleeding revenue such as in this matter, according to the report.

The report

The report wanted the city manager Lulamile Mapholoba to ensure that the audit committee was provided with an update on the total rentals generated from the Aloe Ridge rental units, in comparison with the total services consumed, with the total outstanding rentals due, together with the latest payment arrangement by the Human Settlement MEC for the payment of these arrears.

Msunduzi Municipality donated a piece of land to Capital City Housing (CCH) for the construction of 952 social housing units. The project was completed and allocation commenced in 2018.

During the allocation process, about 261 units were invaded by military veterans from various formations.

The report states that this led to CCH going into business rescue due to their not being able to meet their loan obligations resulting from the shortfall in rental collection due to the invasion.

Following a court order application for an eviction order by CCH, in June 2020, Msunduzi Municipality was joined to the application, reads the report.

It said at the time the court ordered that a mediation process be embarked on to find an amicable solution.

The Aloe Ridge Social Housing Project applied for an evection order against the military veterans who invaded the 261 units at the project.

Eviction order was granted

Msunduzi was joined to the court process as it is the responsibility of the local municipality to provide alternative accommodation should the court grant the eviction order.

The city’s high court granted the eviction order on February 25, 2021 but suspended the order until July 31, 2021.

The national minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation agreed to pay the monthly rental inclusive of service charges for water and electricity from February 2021 to 31 December 2022. This timeframe will enable the municipality and the province to conclude the planning processes for 355 sites in various wards of the city, and will also enable the province to commence construction on sites already available.

Responding to various opposition parties questioning how the municipality was handling the illegal invasion, Msunduzi’s general manager in sustainable development, Felix Nxumalo, said if municipal property or land was invaded then the city authorities would respond. He cautioned the opposition against apportioning blame without obtaining facts.

The Aloe Ridge is privately owned. The National Minister of Human Settlements has intervened in this matter. The minister has extended the rental of those in occupation while we are dealing with the construction of houses for the military veterans.

Council speaker Eunice Majola also warned councillors against discussing issues without reading the agenda.

City manager Lulamile Mapholoba said the city has taken an approach of engaging the veterans.

The Aloe Ridge social housing complex in Westgate, Pietermaritzburg. PHOTO: FILE