Prefab ‘suburb’ worrying

Naudeville residents living next to the mess of an unsanctioned development are watching in horror as prefabricated buildings and unsafe brick structures are being erected.

The erection of prefabricated buildings are illegal in South Africa and in contravention of the building regulations, yet they are seen in Naude­ville. Photo: Supplied

This is happening on a “suburb” of plots that used to belong to the late Goldfields businessman Vax Mayekiso.

In July, Cllr Coreen Malherbe sent an urgent letter to the municipality in this regard, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

One of the illegal structures being erected in the no-man’s land in Naudeville, which seems to be a townhouse complex or student building.Photo: Supplied

This area seems to be a no-man’s land belonging to no-one. There are no municipal service connections and the people living there are dumping their sewage in furrows they have dug into the ground behind their structures.

Cllr Piet Botha on Tuesday, 8 October, again directed an urgent communication to the municipality.

Strange structures, prefabricated buildings, and haphazard brick home­s – these are all some of the unsanctioned happenings in the Naudeville extension in Welkom. Photo: Marti Will

He wrote that he believes that the “Vax Mayekiso erven” could have reverted back to the municipality after the man’s passing.

Malherbe wrote that earlier this year residents noticed that “the owners” of several stands between Henriette and Ockert Streets, Naudeville, started to erect one or two-room pre-construction buildings that they call store rooms for storing their building material for their houses.

This has escalated to several people using these structures as houses even though there is no water or electricity supplied by the municipality.

Affected residents in the formal part of Naudeville have complained to Vista about this developement.

Malherbe says residents have made accusations that high-ranking officials are involved and that, among other things, bribes have been accepted to allow the shack owners to proceed.

There are also structures of houses that they are busy building that have turned the area into a squatter space.

“They are now constructing a settlement of improvised building better known as shanties or shacks,” she said.

As far as Malherbe can ascertain, no official processes have been followed to legalise the “suburb”.

The lack of water and sewage services is leading to a human rights fiasco, and fast.

Malherbe also enquired whether rezoning processes were followed, whether the legal processes prescribed were followed, and if building plans were submitted. If there were building plans submitted, who approved them?

To date there has been no response to either Malherbe or Botha’s urgent enquiries.

Vista’s enquiry to Tshediso Tlale, spokesperson for the Matjhabeng Municipality, remains unanswered.