D-day for Knysna mosque decision

KNYSNA NEWS - The answer as to whether the Knysna Muslim Council's mosque will be built in Rawson Street or not is expected this week – after more than two years of wrangling.

The fate of the proposed Knysna mosque has been the subject of a battle between the municipality and some community members (hereafter known as the Rawson Street Homeowners), who had their first meeting on October 9, 2014. Their application to oppose the municipal decision was then lodged at the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on November 25, 2015.

Finally on Wednesday, March 8, judge Daniel Dlodlo heard the matter in the Western Cape High Court.

The judge reserved judgment and has not given an indication when he will deliver his verdict, but it is believed that it will be this week on Wednesday, April 5.

Rawson Street Homeowners applied to the court to halt the construction of the mosque‚ which it argues contravenes municipal bylaws.

The municipality meanwhile is sticking to its guns that due diligence was done when they sold the land earmarked for a mosque to the Knysna Muslim Council.

The Knysna Muslim Council (KMC) is on record saying there are 15 churches in the CBD and want the same rules to apply to the building of their mosque in Knysna.

Knysna-based attorney Franci Joubert, acting on behalf of the applicants, has said from the beginning that the application to the high court is not politically or religiously motivated. “The application is aimed at directing the Knysna municipality to apply the correct procedures and to conform to the principle of legality in applications of this nature.”

Joubert said she had briefed advocate Eduard Bruwer to provide an opinion on whether an application against the municipality’s decision was likely to succeed.

In reviewing the legality of the approval, Bruwer said, “My subjective opinion is that the Knysna municipality invalidly approved the mosque development and therefore I am of the opinion that this decision be taken on review.”

Since then Joubert and Bruwer have represented the group of local homeowners and concerned citizens, backed by leading businessmen, who first served notice on the Knysna municipality that they intended to apply to the court to set aside a decision that allows the erection of a mosque on a 1 277sq m Rawson Street property belonging to the KMC.

When the applicants took on this fight they said they would not stop irrespective of the cost – which so far is in the region of R500 000.

From the outset the Rawson Street Homeowners have stated that if the application had been for a church of any nomination, not because it is a mosque, they would have objected on the same grounds. The Knysna municipality awarded a rezoning application to the KMC early last year, to develop the property.

But residents objected‚ citing availability of parking‚ traffic congestion and obstruction of views‚ among some of their reasons.

Arguing for the applicants‚ Bruwer explained that the “fundamental aspect of the applicants’ case is the traffic impact assessment report”.

He said that such a report would provide data to show the traffic impact of the proposed development – but that no such data is available – and that having the development of a mosque may well change the current conditions of traffic in the town.

Bruwer also argued that the proper concessions for parking were not considered when the property was rezoned.

He presented that the new zoning would allocate one parking bay for every five seats in the mosque‚ which would result in 70 new parking bays being required for the 350-seat building.

KMC chairperson Omar Essa said that all issues regarding parking and traffic were addressed in their responding papers.

Both parties are now eagerly awaiting the court's verdict.

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