Tshwane makes U-turn on settlement with Kleinfontein

The settlement between the City of Tshwane and the Afrikaner settlement of Kleinfontein, which was recently made an order of the High Court in Pretoria, was not authorised by the council itself and must be set aside.

This is according to Eugene Modise, deputy mayor and member of the mayoral committee for finance.

He threatens that “heads will roll” over the matter.

Read: Illegal Kleinfontein township gets free pass on punitive rates

Moneyweb recently reported that the metro council had reached a settlement with the Kleinfontein Aandeleblok (KA), which administers the community, and agreed to reverse the reclassification of the land – on which Kleinfontein was developed without any permission – to “unpermitted use”.

This brought an end to litigation between the two parties.

Properties categorised as “unpermitted use” are charged property rates at 7.5 times the rate applicable to residential property. The council recategorised the land in September 2024.

As part of the settlement, the penalty rates charged since then because of the recategorisation must be written off.

The settlement also sets strict deadlines for Kleinfontein to formalise the development, which is expected to result in substantial costs for its residents.

City ‘will go to court’

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Modise, however, contacted Moneyweb on Wednesday morning to say: “The City will definitely go to court and apply for this order be rescinded.”

He says he knew nothing about the settlement.

“We are not shocked by this act because the court have described Kleinfontein as a Criminal Enterprise and they are again reaffirming this with the nefarious act.”

This is a reference to a court ruling in August 2024 in which the settlement was described in this way. The court then ordered the City of Tshwane to enforce the law regarding land use and development in Kleinftontein.

According to Modise “consequences management is already activated and heads will roll”.

‘Payback’

Modise further links the events to the recent suspension of city manager Johann Mettler, which was set aside in court.

“There are allegations that this is a payback for support on the City Manager court and suspension matter and we will investigate deeper,” he said.

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Asked whether other illegal developments, of which there are almost 20 in the council area, are also being penalised with higher property rates for their unpermitted use, Modise acknowledged that this is not the case.

He said the council is busy with a comprehensive programme to have them formalised, but “Kleinfontein is excluded because they do not cooperate”.

Regarding the other illegal developments, he said: “They will kill us,” referring to the settlement with Kleinfontein.

Mayoral candidate ‘stunned’

Willie Spies, the Freedom Front Plus mayoral candidate whose law firm, Hurter Spies, acts for Kleinfontein, said in response that he was stunned by Modise’s statements.

“The settlement was reached precisely because of Kleinfontein’s cooperation,” he said.

He added that the settlement has already largely been implemented.

“The township establishment application must be submitted by 31 August, and it is virtually ready for submission.”

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