It is worrisome to many residents that, the local municipality does not seem to treat all residents living in the area with the same fairness and courtesy, as seemingly some are privileged and can get away with their wrong doing, whilst others are immediately stopped with legal action taken against them.
Many residents have, over time, complained about their electricity supplies being cut by the municipality for their account being in arrears for just two months, saying that others continue getting electricity supply despite being in arrears with the Council for a year or even longer. The most recent complaint is of the cancellation of a lease agreement with the Council, concerning a council owned property, used mainly for function hire.
According to the Council the lease of the property, at the corner of Taj Str and 43rd Ave, has expired some time back and is being continued on a month to month basis. The Council now states that it requires the property for its own use. However, questions are now being asked as to why the Council does not, in the same breath, remove those who are illegally occupying council owned property, without even having a lease with Council, in the first place.
A number of residents told the Laudium Sun that they were sad to hear about one of Laudium’s famous function venues, Silver Crescent, being given notice by Council to vacate, more so as the venue was providing an important service to the community as venues for functions were scarce in the area, with even the Civic Centre not being in a good enough condition to host functions such as weddings.
Sound engineer, Faizal Moosa said, “Clearly the council is just using an excuse to say that they need the place, the bottom line is that some people are privileged and are allowed to occupy council property without even a lease, whilst others who are trying to run an honest business and are at the same time, serving the needs of the community, are being harassed by Council.”
Notice
According to the notice sent on September 5, to the lessee, Pleasure Trainer, the lease which came into effect 20 years back, on 1st Sept, 2002, has since expired and was now on a month to month basis. The termination notice reads… “This letter serves as a notice to inform you that the City of Tshwane hereby terminates the abovementioned lease with immediate effect, as the property is required to render municipal services. You are required to vacate the said property and hand over all keys to the facility within a period of sixty (60) days after receipt of this termination notice, where after designated officials from the City will take over the management of the facility.”
However according to sources, the said facility was a bare ground at the time the lease was signed with Council. As such huge improvements were made on the property, which could result in a dispute between the Council and the tenant, as far as enrichment is concerned. Attempts to get hold of a representative of Silver Crescent were unsuccessful as the place was found to be closed when the Laudium Sun visited the place a number of times this week.
