Update

KNYSNA - The Knysna Municipality Acting Director of Human Settlements, Lindile Petuna, has finally responded to the recent Gqeberha High Court judgement which ordered him to reimburse the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality millions from his own pocket. 

Petuna last week announced he would appeal the court's decision. Falling just short of painting himself as a ''modern-day Robin Hood'' fighting for the plight of the poor according to a Port Elizabeth weekend paper, Petuna blamed "rich people'' in Nelson Mandela Bay for the R11 850-million botch-up. He claims the court made a ''default judgement".

On 30 March, acting judge Lisa Ntsepe ordered Petuna to pay R11,3-m out of his own pocket after finding that the former executive director of human settlements at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recommended that the council buy a piece of land for R11-m more than it was worth. 

Petuna recommended a payment of R14,3-m while the farm was only worth R3-m. Petuna also made headlines in October last year when he was ordered by the Port Elizabeth High Court to pay more than R550 000 for wrongfully advising his previous employer, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, to rezone residential land for the development of a luxury hotel and chapel.

Responding to an enquiry from Knysna-Plett Herald , Petuna said he has received the judgement and has gone through it.

"I have appointed a legal team to appeal the judgement. My legal team is also applying to set aside the previous judgement. I would not want to get into the legal aspects as only my legal team can deal with it and will do so in a court of law."

'It's about the poor'

He said the information in the public domain is misleading and is focused only on the judgement, regardless of it being a default judgement.

"The matter is not necessarily about me, but about the right to exist between the poor and the rich. There are people in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) who are hell-bent on settling old scores because of professional differences. Certain characters want to utilise the judgement as a tool to deny the poor community of Seaview what would have been their constitutional right."

According to Petuna, Seaview residents have been living on that portion of land for more than 20 years with no access to basic services and there is no hope of getting these services in the near future.

"All this community wants is to reside in this area as it is closer to areas of employment and other facilities they need. This is the only home they know. For the past 20 years the rich made various attempts to deny this community their right to reside anywhere in South Africa, access to land and housing due to selfish agendas," he said.

Petuna said while the rich people living in the Seaview village enjoy basic services, the poor have no access to these services.

"They have been fighting for years to get these services. Every time they get closer to the end goal, the rich find a loophole in the system to block them."

Lindile Petuna

Injustice

Petuna said the Department of Environ-mental Affairs issued a Positive Record of Decision in early 2000, which paved a way for the development of a portion of the municipal land where these communities reside.

"As the service providers started cutting trees, the rich utilised forestry legislation to block the development, stating that this is a protected forest.

"Is it not injustice that the people who reside in the forest are now not allowed to reside in a portion of the same forest? Why would government not see their situation as an exceptional circumstance, which is allowed in terms of the very same Forestry Act?" asked Petuna.

He said a number of properties in the vicinity of the subject property have been rezoned and positive record of decisions (ROD) have been issued utilising the cluster and space principle.

"Perhaps these have been approved due to the fact that the rich stand to profit from the proceeds and the rich will reside next to the rich," he said.

"The fight is not against him, he claimed, but about perpetuating injustice against the poor people of Seaview.

"Is there no middle road where the poor communities are accommodated while the trees are also protected? Do the people have to leave so that trees can grow?" asked Petuna. He said he will fight the fight, but the poor have no one to fight for them. "Surely they have now lost any hope they had," he said.

In a statement to the press this week the Knysna Ratepayer's Association said, "Mr Petuna paints a detailed self-portrait of a man fighting a lonely battle to deliver housing and justice to this poor community.

"What we would like to know is why Mr Petuna recommended to Council to buy land for R11-m more than it is worth, and how that helps the poor?"

Knysna municipal spokesperson Christopher Bezuidenhoudt said last month that the High Court judgement has no bearing on the Knysna Municipality.

"Petuna is not currently facing any disciplinary charges at the Knysna Municipality as a result of the above nor will he be placed on any type of precautionary suspension," he said.

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