The Makhado Municipality’s failure to react to a petition by community members with regard to the White Horse Guest House in Louis Trichardt might now result in legal action being instituted against the municipality.

“This is not so much a guest house as a drinking place. I don’t know whether they sell liquor, but there is definitely a lot of liquor. The noise is very disturbing. Sometimes the party starts at two o’clock in the afternoon and lasts till three the following morning. I have often called the police to help, but they have scarcely turned their backs or the noise continues,” says Ms Petro Scholtz, who resides directly behind the guest house.

Seven months ago, on February 4, the issue of the guest house in Douthwait Street becoming a nuisance to neighbours was brought to the attention of the Makhado municipal manager, Mr Shadrack Tshikalange. The documentation handed to Tshikalange included 28 copies of individual letters of complaint, a petition letter drafted by Advocate Gideon Joubert and signed by him and 34 other complainants, as well as a letter from the principal of the Louis Trichardt Primary School, Mr Louis Linde.

The letters of complaint stated that the situation was regarded as extremely serious and needed to be addressed immediately by the municipal manager. The complainants said that “if immediate action is not undertaken,” they would join a lawsuit that would obtain a prohibitory interdict against the guest house at the expense of the municipality

“However, seven months later … nothing has been done by your office to address these real problems and issues,” states a letter by the complainants to Tshikalange on September 15.

The action now required by complainants is the “immediate and indefinite closure” of the guesthouse and the breaking down of all infrastructure illegally erected on the premises. Joubert said on Monday that if the matter could not be resolved and the municipality failed to address the issue, it would leave them no other option than to pursue legal avenues. He said they would make sure that the court, in its cost awards, would hold the municipal manager responsible in his personal capacity “since he had been acting in dereliction of his duties.”

Joubert obtained information from the municipality with regard to the guest house through the Promotion of Access to Information Act. According to this information, the guest house had special consent for limited overnight accommodation for 24 months, but this expired in May 2010. The guest house also has no liquor license, although Joubert (who stays directly across the street) says liquor bottles are often thrown on his pavement and on the pavement of the primary school’s sports grounds.

Media questions were sent to the municipality on September 22 and a short response was received on September 27.

“We are going to write him a contravention letter this week and if he does not comply, legal action will be taken against him. He has to re-apply for a new licence ... We are also going to investigate the early hours noise you are talking about,” was municipality spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi’s response.