Housing trouble for Bitou municipality staff

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - About 11 Plett families are at risk of losing what they have called home for up to three decades after receiving notice from the Bitou Municipality that council intends to dispose of the properties they are living in.

Accusations have been made that the municipality decided to sell the properties to generate an income.

Bitou Municipal Manager, Mbulelo Memani, said in a statement that proceeds from the properties would be used for service delivery priorities. He added the municipality was bound by the legislative prescripts that dictated the way council is to dispose of its assets.

He said employees could not be given first preference to purchase as the properties would be disposed of by way of a competitive bidding process. Memani further said that they were still discussing a way forward for the residents.

The tenants have until the end of October to file their objections.

Affordable accommodation

In a statement the 11 families living in the affected homes in Flying Cloud and Fiery Cross streets as well as Oriental Place, said some people had been living in these homes for 33 years.

"The houses were built in the early '80s to provide affordable accommodation for essential service staff who are from outside this locality as the Bitou property market makes it difficult for staff to acquire suitable affordable accommodation," their statement read.

They explained that rent had been set at a percentage of employees salaries and in 2014 council reviewed and adopted a new staff housing policy, the rent amount was adjusted taking into account the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003.

"Market related rental values were determined and council resolved to set the monthly rental amount at 50% of the market related rate with an annual increase at CPI."

The families said rent, water, refuse and sewerage were deducted from their salaries monthly and prepaid meters had been installed for electricity consumption.

Neglected houses

"Over the years the houses have been dismally neglected and due to financial constraints, the municipality was unable to carry out maintenance. Many of us took it upon ourselves to maintain our homes to an acceptable condition we can live in.

"In the past we have on numerous occasions approached the municipality to consider selling us these houses because once we own the property we are able to upgrade these houses befitting the neighbourhood we dwell in. We are very mindful of the beautiful homes around us and the value they add to our town. This is now nearly impossible."

They said they had "by chance" heard about a council meeting held on 31 August that included an agenda item regarding their homes. "Our immediate thought was that we are finally going to be given the opportunity of first right of refusal."

They described viewing the meeting on YouTube as "paralyzing" when it became clear what the municipality's intentions for the properties were. After meeting with officials, the families said that they would only get the opportunity to purchase these homes when it went out on tender.

"We will however be competing with wealthy bidders and we will not afford the prices."

Sustainable service delivery

"We are aware that council has the right to dispose of its assets in accordance with its policies. One of the functions of local government is to provide sustainable basic services being water, electricity, emergency services, environmental health."

They also said that the Bitou Municipality was one of the best run municipalities in the country when it came to service delivery. "And if there is an issue, turn-around time in resolving it exceeds national standards.

"Administrations and political office bearers have changed over the years, but key deliverables have remained consistent and ongoing, in other words those at the forefront of service delivery continue to serve their community irrespective of who is in charge."

'We are loyal'

The families said that they have played a part in this success. "We are part of the greater work force providing essential service to the community. The skills, experience and expertise we bring into our key performance areas have not been gained through serving internships, learnership or friendship programmes.

We come from an old school work ethic where we show up for work on time, exhibit pride in our workmanship, in a breakdown or emergency there is no time for a coffee break and if you can't sleep at night it's because of the work you couldn't complete.

"We don't call in sick, we would rather show up at work and leave only when we cannot continue anymore. We rather wait for our managers to remind us about annual leave. We are loyal to our employer and the current situation in which we find ourselves, does not sit well with our values."

They said they had seen Plett through the flood of 2007, drought and fire of 2017, and more recently, the load shedding which was wreaking havoc on the town's infrastructure.

They said the purpose of the statement was not to rally public sympathy, pity or champion their cause, but to promote transparency to the community of Bitou by providing information that would assist them in making a more informed decision in the public participation process that ends 31 October.

Memani said the Human Rights Commission was investigating the issue and planned to mediate in the matter.

Flying Cloud Drive in Plettenberg Bay where the Bitou Municipality plans to sell several properties.