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The Democratic Alliance calls for an immediate investigation by the
provincial department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements
and Traditional Affairs into the chaos at the Office at the Municipal
Manager of the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality. We are worried about
the current shambles that characterizes the application for new
building plans. Internal controls at the municipality are seriously
lacking.

Building plans submitted for houses are simply disappearing.
Councilors and officials from the municipality are able to access
plans without any restraint. Not only does this pose a serious safety
risk, but it means that anybody can make free copies of building plans
that you have paid an architect thousands of rands to design.
Community members have raised their concerns with us.

This is one area of gross mismanagement that we know about. In how
many other areas are documents disappearing without a trace?

In terms of the Building Control By-law of 2006, the municipality is
expected to either approve or reject new building plans within a
period of 30 days. Yet applicants wait for months without feedback
from the municipal manager. I know from my personal experience that if
you contact him with a query, he is evasive and unable to provide
satisfactory explanations for why processes are taking so long to
unfold.

We are forced to raise this matter with the media because the
municipal manager does not respond to queries. It is a shame that
ratepayers like myself are forced to take extraordinary measures due
to the shambles at the municipality.

Recently, the lifting of the moratorium on development in the
municipality has given residents a sense of renewal. We felt that
things are beginning to happen in Kimberley with the development of
new commercial properties and hospitals. It is a shame that the
development of commercial properties cannot be duplicated in the
residential arena due to the gross negligence at the municipality.

We call on the municipal manager to take full charge of his
responsibilities. It is unacceptable that residents must wait for
months without knowing the outcome of their applications.

IIssued by DA