Mosque objectors feel 'ignored'

KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Ratepayer’s Association and objectors to the proposed mosque in Rawson Street feel disillusioned and disappointed by the way they are being treated by the Knysna Municipal Council. According to them, their repeated requests to state their case before the Knysna Council have been ignored.

This follows after they sent numerous requests to the Knysna Council to be heard, but they have apparently fallen on deaf ears. Written requests were sent to the chairperson of the Section 80 meeting Louise Hart, to Knysna’s executive mayor Georlene Wolmarans as well as to the speaker Eleonore Bouw-Spies, but no response has been received.

A total of 457 people supported the development and 1 504 objected.

Answers

Last week on Friday, May 29, the group attended the Knysna Council’s meeting in the hope that they would be given an opportunity to state their case. The group also wanted to be provided with a full response to their formal objections and an opportunity to understand on what grounds their objections were declined.

Last week, Susan Campbell of the Knysna Ratepayers Association, expressed the hope that the dispute could be resolved through dialogue among all parties involved and the finding of a satisfactory solution for everybody involved. (Refer to the article, Anti-Mosque Group May Resort to Court, in Knysna-Plett Herald of May 28.)

Public participation

“We were denied our constitutional right to be heard and we had to observe how the application was rushed through Council together with a number of other development applications,” Campbell said after the council meeting, on Monday, June 1.

“We are very disappointed that the very people elected to represent us did not even afford us the courtesy of a response to our request. We wanted to make it very clear that we are not against an Islamic Centre and a mosque for Knysna. We empathise with the fact that the Knysna Muslim Association has been looking for a place for over 11 years and that Rawson Street was apparently the only available land they could find.

"We, however, feel that the Rawson Street property is too small to accommodate the proposed structure and the long-term needs of the Muslim community. The road carries significant traffic volumes on Friday afternoons and the parking requirements have not been adequately addressed,” said Campbell.

She added, “By rushing through the application and not following due process, councillors have done both the Muslim community and objectors a disservice. Objectors in planning applications have become accustomed to being ignored by the Knysna Council and administration that pay ‘lip service’ to public participation. Developers have on occasion been invited to address the Council, but the same courtesy is not afforded to the people who voted them into power.”

Mayor’s response

Knysna’s executive mayor Georlene Wolmarans responded on Tuesday, June 2, saying:

“The matter has been investigated within council for nine months. We followed the procedures as set out in the relevant legislation by dealing with both the applicant and all interested and affected parties fairly and equally in processing the application.

"Careful consideration has been given by council (as the decision-maker) to all the information provided by the applicant as well as all the comments / objections that have been received, in an unbiased manner.

The outcome of council's decision will be communicated to the applicant and all interested and affected parties in due course”

Objectors’ response

Campbell was not happy with the mayor’s explanation. She said, “We take note that the executive mayor does not deem it necessary to explain why we were not afforded the courtesy of a response to our requests to be heard. The constitution guarantees everyone a right to just administrative action.

The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act makes provision for oral representations. By denying interested parties the right to be heard, the Knysna Council disregarded the constitutional rights of the citizens under its jurisdiction.”

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