The DA in Tshwane has blamed the city’s failure to establish municipal planning tribunals as the cause of a backlog in development applications.
This comes after the Kleinfontein community recently accused the City of Tshwane of delays in processing their rezoning applications, which have been pending since 2011.
The community is presently living on a property initially zoned for agriculture and it ought to be rezoned following the building of structures.
According to the city, the property has been classified as an informal settlement.
The DA presented a motion during last week’s council meeting, attributing the backlog in development applications to the city’s failure to establish municipal planning tribunals, which handle land-use matters, objections, and appeals.
DA Tshwane spokesperson on Economic Development and Spatial Planning, Pogiso Mthimunye, said the current administration, led by Mayor Nasiphi Moya, has yet to establish crucial city planning tribunals since taking office in November.
The key planning tribunals that remain unestablished include the Strategic Land Development Tribunal and the Municipal Appeals Tribunal.
Mthimunye said: “These bodies are responsible for adjudicating land-use applications, objections, restricted access approvals, and appeals. They are essential to transparent, responsive, and lawful development processes.”
He said appointing the tribunals as delegated committees falls under Moya’s duties.
He said the DA has taken a step to submit a motion to the council in the interests of the city’s residents and businesses and pushing for a functional city.
“The last time the tribunals operated was under the DA-led coalition in August 2024. Mayor Moya’s inaction in instituting these tribunals has resulted in a backlog of residential and commercial development applications. These delays have undermined safety, planning certainty, and economic opportunity in the City of Tshwane,” he said.
He noted that despite the city’s failure to convene planning tribunals, businesses and residential groups have received non-compliance notices, and their applications are being delayed due to the mayor’s governance failures.
Mthimunye’s criticism follows accusations from Kleinfontein’s Afrikaner community leaders that the city is slow-walking the rezoning process, despite the community’s long-term occupation of land originally zoned for agriculture.
During a recent visit by uMkhonto weSizwe Party leaders, the community leaders complained that their application to formalise the settlement has been stuck with the municipality since 2011.
Rian Genis, chairperson of the board of directors, claimed the city has made empty promises to address their application under previous executive mayors without taking concrete action.
MMC for Human Settlements, Aaron Maluleke, recently referenced an August 2024 judgment by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, which ruled on Kleinfontein’s township status after disputes over whether the governing body had submitted necessary paperwork regarding land use.
He said that due to the absence of approved submissions, the city has deemed Kleinfontein an illegal township, effectively labelling it an informal settlement.
He said despite a court ruling requiring the city to take action against the founders of Kleinfontein’s governing body, the city chose to engage with them instead. He pledged to collaborate with the Kleinfontein community to “regularise” them.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za
