Council restarts process to sell part of Townsend Park in Ballito

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30-04-2025
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North Coast Courier
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KwaDukuza council heard last week that the process will start afresh, with a new evaluation of the land and a new public comment process.

The proposed sale of part of Townsend Park for the construction of a mosque has become a possibility once again.

KwaDukuza council heard last week that the process will start afresh, with a new evaluation of the land and a new public comment process. The Zululand Islamic Society bid R3.6-million for the land in 2018, with the intention of building a mosque.

The sale of ERF517 – a 4 000m² section of forested land in Townsend Park commonly known as ‘Butterfly Park’ – became a major point of contention when it was proposed in 2013, 2019 and most recently in 2022. In late 2022, a groundswell of Ballito residents registered their objections via a petition organised by the Dolphin Coast Residents and Ratepayers Association (Docrra).

Residents argued that Butterfly Park was one of the few remaining “green lungs” in central Ballito and that it was worth preserving.

According to the official numbers contained in the council report however, the number of submissions received in favour of the sale far outweighs those against. Per the report, the KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) received 483 comments in support of the sale and 106 objections. However the ‘Save Townsend Park‘ petition, created in March 2019 and still available online, had received 2 530 signatures in objection to the sale at time of print.

Docrra chairperson Deon Viljoen welcomed the scrapping of the previous process to sell the land after the ratepayer organisation placed significant legal pressure on the municipality in 2022.

“We are glad that the initial council process was reversed and will continue to contest any sale of the land going forward,” said Viljoen.

Ward 22 councillor Privi Makhan questioned whether it was fair for the item to be re-presented in the same form as it first appeared before council in 2019.

“The motivation for the sale at the time was because there was no place of worship for that group,” she said.

“There is now another place of worship under construction just up the road.”

As previously reported by the Courier, the Ballito Prayer Hall, funded by the Ballito Muslim Trust, received council approval last May and is under construction in the Ballito Business Park. It is designed to accommodate 300 people.

“Taking into account our current demands as well as the exponential growth we are witnessing within Ballito and the surrounding areas, we believe that upon completion the prayer hall will be large enough to service the Muslim community,” said Ballito imaam, Moulana Bilal Vally, in May last year.