LOUIS TRICHARDT – Did the Makhado Municipal Council deliberately try to mislead the taxpayers of the town with regard to the proposed business development in the Indigenous Tree Sanctuary?

This is but one of the many questions doing the rounds among concerned citizens, who are opting for a full-scale commission of enquiry into the way the present Municipal Council, conducts its business.

A Motivational Memorandum issued by Council about the proposed rezoning of the Tree Park for business purposes, sparked serious concerns about Council's deliberate attempt to withhold pertinent information from the public it is supposed to serve. Council announced in an advertisement during December, while most role-players were on leave, its intentions to rezone the Tree Park into a business area and gave objectors until December 27 to register for an attendance of a meeting to discuss objections.

The Motivational Memorandum indicates that Council already in August last year took a decision in principle, to rezone the environmentally important Indigenous Tree Sanctuary into a business area. The pertinent official Council decision, however, makes no mention of the Tree Park and merely in vague terms refer to "a portion of the Remainder of Portion 7 of the farm Bergfliet 288LS, approximately 9ha in extent." The Remainder of Portion 7 of the farm Bergvliet covers an area ranging from the industrial area to the south of the town right through to the SAFCOL plantations on the north eastern side of the N1 next to the town.

When a journalist at the time pertinently asked a senior official of Council which portion is implied by the decision, the official said it referred to the remaining undeveloped part of the southern industrial area. The media, which is supposed to inform the local community about important events in Council, is continuously being frustrated by a total lack of transparency on the part of Council who does not allow the media insight into pertinent facts and even official documents surrounding official decisions, taken in open council meetings.