High-level official steps are in progress to ascertain the legality of the controversial residential development on the mountain top above the town of Louis Trichardt. A team of expert law enforcement inspectors visited the site this week to investigate possible breaches of the law. The inspection brought the construction to a halt.

The R3.3million residential development at Songozwi traditional village is done by the Makhado Municipality and the Department of Local Government and Housing and, according to the official municipal spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, comprises the erection of 63 RDP-type houses.

The senior official in charge of environmental compliance and enforcement, Adv Philip Monyepao, confirmed this week that a team of experts from his office had been dispatched to the site.

“The dispatched officials are to go on site where the development is taking place, to verify whether there is a breach of legislation. In such a case, we will take enforcement action. The expert team will also verify from the municipality whether there is any authorization for the development. If it was authorized under specific conditions and there was a material breach of conditions, we will act accordingly,” Monyepao said.

The building site was visited during the past two weeks by various other officials, who made it clear unofficially that the entire development is highly irregular.

When asked about the official visits which had already taken place, Monyepao said officials of other departmental divisions could have made inspections from an environmental and cultural perspective, but expert law enforcement inspectors of his division had been dispatched on Tuesday this week for an extensive inspection from a law-enforcement perspective.

The development was taking place in contravention of a solemn settlement agreement, entered into during 2005. The agreement followed unlawful action by the Makhado Municipality on behalf of the Songozwi community and was subject to the condition that not more than 12 RDP houses could be built there.

Bobodi confirmed last week, however, that the municipality, with funding from the Department, is erecting more than 60 houses in the highly sensitive mountain area. He could not confirm whether the appropriate impact studies had been conducted prior to the development. He said the housing was for “disadvantaged farm labourers” from Songozwi.

So far, officials from Polokwane could not find any indication that any environmental impact studies had been conducted or that any authorization had been given for the development.

A court order was issued against the Makhado Municipality in 2005, after the municipality made itself guilty of unlawful conduct, causing damage on a farm adjoining the cultural site at Songozwi. The court order prohibited the municipality from entering the farm without the permission of the owner and instructed it to repair the damage which was caused, when municipal earth-moving equipment was used to bulldoze a road through the farm to Songozwi, after a gate protecting cattle on the farm and motorists on the Bluegumsport Road was also maliciously damaged by the municipality.

At present, all the construction material being used for the unauthorized erection of the RDP houses at Songozwi is being transported through the very same farm, without the permission of the owner.

After the 2005 criminal offence by the Makhado municipality, a settlement was reached between the trust in possession of the farm and the Mpephu tribe about the usage of an access route through the farm. According to the agreement “friends and families of the Songozwi community will use the access route reasonably” and the parties undertook to respect each other, to co-operate and to build good relations on a continuous basis and to work together to promote tourism in the area. Point 10 on the agreement states: “This agreement is subject to the condition that not more than 12 RDP houses are additionally being built.”