Residents angry at illegal building
YEOVILLE and Bellevue residents are infuriated by the growing number of illegal businesses, guesthouses and churches popping up – and the City of Joburg’s refusal to take action.
Tsepo Matubatuba, chairman of the Yeoville and Bellevue Ratepayers’ Association, says illegal building works continue throughout the suburbs to the detriment of the people who have invested in the area for residential purposes.
One complaint among many refers to a private house which is being converted into an illegal church in Frances Street, Yeoville, without the consultation or knowledge of the residents.
“The property is now a multi-purpose, cluttered property. It has a series of back rooms that are not even built properly and an illegal spaza shop erected amid fierce their being informed when construction starts.
It is believed a pastor, who lives in the northern suburbs, runs the premises.
“I am making another plea to the city to intervene as this will again clog our area with traffic caused by an influx of vehicles coming to park in the street, even in front of our houses.
“The city’s non-action is really angering law-abiding residents, and when they react, they are labelled xenophobic,” Matubatuba said.
He said the city had obtained and served two stop orders on the owner to halt building, but these have been ignored.
Most of the people attending the church do not live in the area and are bused in from outside Yeoville and Bellevue.
However, the city says the property has not yet been rezoned and that, according to the data on its system, the owner has lodged two town planning applications, namely a consent application and a simultaneous removal rezoning.
“Also, according to our system, a consent application was returned as legally incomplete. The rezoning application was recently submitted and the application is still at the circulation phase for comments from other departments. This means that the property zone is still Residential 4 in terms of Johannesburg Town Planning Scheme,” said City of Joburg spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane.
The application should also be advertised by the applicant, and once it has been advertised, the applicant should provide proof to indicate that the application was correctly advertised.
“If and when all the comments received have been addressed by the applicant/ owner, and the applicant has provided all the required information, it will be allocated to a planner for assessment, during which all representation, include objections, if received, will be considered,” Modingoane said.
There is a general problem of churches mushrooming across the city, he said, and it is a matter that is high on the council’s agenda.
The development planning department addresses each site on its own merits. Land Use Development Management considers the zoning and the land use rights for each site, while Building Development Management investigates any illegal building amendments. Legal action against the perpetrators occurs once all actions have been taken.