The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria has found that the residents of the all Afrikaner township called Kleinfontein, east of the city, are living there illegally as the place is not zoned for residential purposes.
The court ordered the City of Tshwane to immediately take appropriate steps to enforce all relevant laws relating to planning and building regulations as far as it relates to the farms comprising the Kleinfontein settlement.
Acting Judge Adrian Vorster found that the directors of Kleinfontein Anndeleblok acted illegally by allowing the use of the land without adhering to the requirements as set out in law. The community is residing on land zoned for agricultural use and not residential use.
Some of the issues include that no building plans were ever submitted or passed and basic services are provided by the board of Kleinfontein, which runs the community.
The application was brought by four disgruntled shareholders, who are among a group which is unhappy with the way things are run in the community, including the lack of service delivery.
The settlement was named after one of the farms on which it was established shortly after the referendum in 1992.
Kleinfontein was mooted as a “growth point for Afrikaner self-determination” and located between Pretoria and Bronkhorstspruit.
The site was of symbolic and historic significance to the founders of Kleinfontein because it was the site where the Battle of Diamond Hill took place during the Second Anglo Boer War.
When Kleinfontein was founded, it was anticipated that the settlement would accommodate around 6 000 people. It now comprises 650 dwellings.
The acquisition of new plots in the Donkerhoek area saw an influx of people which culminated in “Broedertwis” ‒ discord among the people, which resulted in litigation between the different factions in the community.
The new residents’ interests were different from the founding fathers. The new tenants wanted security of tenure, better municipal services and more financial security.
The founding fathers were against this as they felt State intervention in their community. Residents meanwhile over the years experienced problems with service delivery such as the degradation of their dirt roads and with the septic tanks they used, which they said posed a risk to the quality of their water.
The settlement bought electricity in bulk from Eskom, but some residents paid more than residents in the new settlements.
There was also a dispute as some residents in the new settlement had better water quality than those in the main settlement.
Several residents were labelled as troublemakers as they insisted that the settlement be aligned with the current planning laws by transforming the settlement from collectively owned property to a recognised land development area with multiple ownership of land and land uses.
They wanted the settlement to have a similar character to other private security estates in Pretoria east, with a homeowners association.
The first litigation started in 2010 when nine “troublemakers” went to court. To have the settlement declared a formal township. In November 2013, while that application was still before court, the Gauteng legislature recognised Kleinfontein and a cultural community. What this recognition entails, is not clear from the court papers, judge Vorster said.
The application was dismissed in 2016 on technical grounds, but the trouble mounted in the community.
In 2022 Kleinfontein accommodated an existing residential development and supporting uses. The development consists of approximately 650 dwellings situated in six different neighbourhoods.
These include a retirement village, a business centre and a non-operational school.
The settlement is approximately 793.51 hectares in extent.
The application by the four shareholders was aimed at, among others, interdicting and restraining those running the community from continuing with the construction and development of any new buildings or dwellings with the aim of expanding the settlement, until things were done by the book.
An interdict is also sought against the City of Tshwane, directing it to enforce compliance with the relevant laws and to take all necessary steps to commence with the prosecution of those running things in Kleinfontein.
The applicants’ case was that the Kleinfontein settlement is an illegal township, and its continued expansion contravenes various laws relating to municipal planning and building regulations.
They argued that the continued expansion of the settlement negatively impacted on their rights as consumers to adequate “municipal” services.
Kleinfontein Anndeleblok, meanwhile, conceded that township establishment had not taken place, and thus the relevant planning and building regulation laws had not been complied with.
Judge Vorster said he is satisfied that the COT has a duty to enforce the relevant laws relating to land use planning and building regulation and that the court is duty bound to grant such an order.
The judge added that he is not inclined to grant an order compelling the COT to commence with prosecution of the Kleinfontein Anndeleblok. “The COT has various remedies at its disposal in the event of a contravention of the laws relating to municipal planning and building,” judge Vorster said.
He pointed out that one of these remedies is a criminal prosecution. “It is not open to the court to prescribe to the COT which remedies it should pursue,” he said.
Pretoria News