Kleinfontein's fight for township status amid Tshwane's legal threats

The Afrikaner-only community in Kleinfontein has hit back at the City of Tshwane's recent ultimatum to reapply for township status or face demolition, calling the move politically motivated. 

The community initially applied for formalisation in 2013, but Tshwane deemed their application to be outdated due to changes in legislation and demanded they resubmit their township application.

Tshwane has taken further action, serving the Kleinfontein community with court papers on August 12, warning them that demolition proceedings will be initiated if they fail to reapply for township status.

Community spokesperson Dannie de Beer expressed disappointment, saying the city's demands are unfair, especially when compared to other illegal settlements like Leeufontein, which lacks basic services but has not faced similar action. 

"We have our own water, electricity distribution, and roads. The difference seems to be that we are an Afrikaner settlement, and this is political," he said.

Tshwane's Member of the Mayoral Committee for Housing and Human Settlements, Aaron Maluleka, said the city has been engaging with the Kleinfontein community since 2013 regarding their township application. 

He noted that Kleinfontein is one of 17 illegal townships that the city has flagged, and their initial application was under the Development Facilitation Act (67 of 1995), which has since been repealed and replaced by Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013.

“We have urged them to apply like any other developer but they have failed to do so and now we went to court and one of our prayers is that we want them to comply and (if they) fail to comply we will have no alternative or option but to demolish their township, which would then be unfortunate,” he said.

Maluleka said despite claims of poverty and inability to pay rates and taxes, the community has developed over 650 dwellings and collected rates and taxes from residents, which they have  retained in their trust.

“Compliance is important and we can’t allow further informality because it has dealt with our infrastructure and we want them to be like any other community. There is nothing racial about it,” he said.

De Beer disputed the allegations, saying the community has been falsely accused of collecting Tshwane rates and taxes and using them for their own purposes.

“This is not true and we will be engaging with Maluleka. We have been paying Tshwane tax for years,” he said.

He said the community is willing to collaborate with Tshwane, but it appears that being an Afrikaner settlement automatically warrants threats of demolition.

He said the city's threat to demolish Kleinfontein was unwise, considering US President Donald Trump's favourable stance towards Afrikaners in South Africa. 

De Beer said the community's application for formalisation has been pending since 2013, with all necessary documents, including wetland studies, water studies, and traffic impact assessments, submitted to Tshwane. 

“We want to be formalised and Tshwane wants us to be formalised. We just differ on the method for doing it. We have spent millions on our application and why should we spend more millions that we don’t have?” he asked.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za