University ignites Plett protests
Tempers among New Horizons residents flared up once again over housing developments and spilt over into a series of protests on Thursday and Friday last week.
This time, it was sparked by news of a planned university for Bitou – reported on in Knysna-Plett Herald on 20 August – with residents fearing that land earmarked for housing will be used for the university instead.
The municipality has built more than 3 000 RDP houses over the past 15 years, of which New Horizons received only the 62 in 2016. This comes despite the acquisition of a portion of land in Ebenezer in October last year, which was earmarked for about 1 500 sites for the construction of housing and infrastructure development.
Another portion of Ebenezer was purchased in 2016 already but no development has taken place there since either.
For more than two decades, the New Horizons community has been lobbying for housing, which ultimately boiled over in protest action in 2018. Along with other communities, locals participated in violent riots in June and July that year, which brought the town to a near standstill. Since then, several protests have sporadically broken out.
Community leader Claude Terblanche said Bitou mayor Peter Lobese and a team, including a representative from the organisation proposing the university, visited the Ebenezer land as a possible site for the institution on Tuesday last week.
On 3 September a meeting was held with residents and attended by the Bitou Speaker. “The community is not supporting this drive by the mayor. During this meeting residents expressed their feelings, saying houses should be the first priority,” said Terblanche.
“Originally council didn’t know the university would be on Ebenezer, because the municipal statement in this regard said the venue would be announced after all public participation processes. Never was it mentioned that it would be Ebenezer.”
Following the meeting, a group of residents took to the N2 to show their frustration. “We are not against education, but as we all know Ebenezer was earmarked for housing,” Terblanche said.
Lobese, however, hit back at residents saying he condemns any “form of incitement of residents to resort to violent protest”. “This is uncalled for and a very dangerous game to play,” Lobese said in a statement.
“There is a myth that funds earmarked for the housing development will be used for the university,” the mayor said. “This is not true and not possible because of municipal financial regulations.”
He added that the property identified for establishing the university’s first phase – a transactional law clinic – is a building in Ebenezer that is currently not occupied, which would be leased to the NGO for a period of three years, in line with Bitou Municipality’s property rental policy. “The implementation of the other components of the university will go through the agreed processes,” Lobese said.
He said the Bitou council resolved to support the establishment of a university in a council meeting on July 31, which included the municipality making available the required land, facilitating the process of rezoning this land accordingly, and supporting the process of soliciting the approval from the Minister of Higher Education.
“The unhappiness from the community of New Horizons stems from the fact that there is misleading information that the establishment of such an institution at Ebenezer land threatens the housing development earmarked for that area. This is not true and must be condemned with contempt.”
Addressing the community’s housing concerns, Lobese said the housing development for Portion 20 of the Ebenezer land has been approved and budgeted for. “The initial plan was to create a transitional residential area of 200 houses. However, a proposal from the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements of building permanent top structures instead of a TRA was approved and communicated to the leaders of the New Horizon community.
New Horizons residents unhappy about housing development issues in their community protested on the N2 on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay on Thursday and Friday last week.
“The plans to develop this housing project are progressing well,” he stated, adding that the tender to install different types of infrastructure services for the development is currently in the municipality’s supply chain system. “This is currently how far the process of developing Ebenezer land is.”
“One has to caution those that seek to use this project for their own narrow interest. The Bitou Council will not abandon the development of housing for the university. The project to develop housing at the Ebenezer site has always been and will always be one of the key objectives of this council.
Professor Anele Hammond, from Engandin’ Stiftung – heading the proposal – stated on record that the establishment and the operations of the institution would be funded from the university’s own coffers.
Previous article: University on the cards for Plettenberg Bay
‘We bring you the latest Plettenberg Bay | Garden Route news’
Source: Knysna Plett Herald News