PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Another wave of protest action in Plettenberg Bay was narrowly prevented last week when what has been described as ineffective communication with communities left New Horizons residents on knife-edge.

"The recent unrest with its devastation of the local economy, stopped tenuously last week (5 July). Order and peace had barely been restored when, once again, miscommunication between officials and the leading coalition almost rekindled the flames," said Bitou DA caucus leader Bill Nel.

He explained that an ad hoc meeting was held on Monday 8 July with municipal housing officials, ANC mayoral committee members and DA councillors.

Contentious transit camp
"At the meeting, a clear agreement was reached that no further construction will commence or continue at the so-called school site – a possible transfer area located inside Ward 4 (New Horizons) but earmarked for Ward 3 (Qolweni) beneficiaries of RDP houses… until thorough engagement and negotiation with the New Horizons community…" Nel said.

"However, exactly one day after reaching this agreement, contractors and municipal workers were going ahead with work on the very same school site, leading to immediate dissatisfaction by the New Horizons community."

The transit camp area is a contentious issue for New Horizons residents who have been lobbying for housing in the area for more than two decades, which boiled over into several protests earlier this year. In the meantime, neighbouring Qolweni had been approved for a housing project, and a transit area for beneficiaries on a property in New Horizons has been on the cards.

'Conflicting reports'
Nel said that the DA had received conflicting reports, to the effect that one housing official had informed the New Horizons community that construction on the site had been approved, while another official denied any such approval.

He also said that the DA had written to the Speaker requesting an urgent full council meeting to discuss a solution. The call had not yet been fruitful by the time of going to print.

Housing committee proposed
Nel explained the item he wanted to call for is that council forms a standing/working housing committee that consists of at least two elected public representatives from each Bitou ward elected by the individual communities themselves. The committee should also include all ward councillors, the mayor, municipal manager, chief financial officer and the senior managers responsible for housing, project management, town planning and engineering. Nel added the committee should also include a senior representative of the provincial human settlements department and an ad hoc senior representative of the national department.

"Such a committee should be tasked to give monthly feedback to every community through each responsible ward councillor supported by the publicly elected community members of that ward and relevant municipal staff. The dates, times and venues of these feedback meetings should be publicised in advance and loud-hailed inside the relevant community on the day before as well as on the day of the meeting."

Municipal spokesperson James Sijama said the municipality has embarked on a peace process to resolve and deal with all the issues as outlined by the community, facilitated by the SA Human Rights Commission involving the community leadership, business, government and other stakeholders.

According to Bitou Speaker Eduan Wildeman, an invitation was extended to all councillors to attend a meeting relating to these issues this week, but the DA councillors declined the invitation.

"Council will receive a full report on what was resolved and the way forward," Sijama said.

'We bring you the latest Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route news'