Sunday Times E-Edition

Storm brews over Butterfly Park

By NIVASHNI NAIR

● Residents of the swanky seaside town of Ballito will go as far as court to stop the sale of a piece of land in a popular park to make way for a mosque.

The sale of 4,000m2 of land — valued at R3.6m — from the 15,259m2 Townsend Park has been a point of contention since 2019, when the Zululand Islamic Society approached the KwaDukuza municipality to purchase a portion of the open space to build Ballito’s first mosque for Muslim worshippers, who have to travel out of town to conduct prayer.

Three weeks ago, the municipality published an ad in the local newspaper calling for public comment by December 15.

Residents insist they are not opposed to the mosque but rather to the sale of one of the last few open spaces in the town.

“The specific piece of land is a forest with marked trees, with many short trails among the trees, with the normal wildlife you will find in such a park. It is also known as Butterfly Park by the locals,” said Dolphin Coast Residents & Ratepayers Association (Doccra) chair Deon Viljoen.

He told the Sunday Times this week that according to their research, due process to sell public open spaces or municipal land had not been followed.

“Many unanswered letters later, Covid arrived and we heard nothing more until three weeks ago, when an advertisement was placed asking for public input on this sale. To our knowledge there was no negotiation or tender process. The land was not for sale when the offer was made,” he said.

The 4,000m2 plot that the Zululand Islamic Society has its eye on is a forest in the park.

“Townsend Park was donated to the municipality many years back and is used as one of the very few parks we have in Ballito. There is a Scout hall and the park is used by all in the community for sport and recreation.”

Viljoen reiterated that the fact that the land would be used to erect a mosque was not an issue for the community.

“The community is objecting to the sale of a public open space and a park and the fact that due legal processes have not been followed to consider such a sale. Doccra will consider challenging this process legally and

Ballito residents to fight sale of land to build seaside town’s first mosque

The specific piece of land is a forest with marked trees, with many short trails among the trees, with the normal wildlife you will find in such a park. It is also known as Butterfly Park by the locals

Doccra chair Deon Viljoen

preparations for such a process have commenced. This has been communicated to the municipality in a recent letter from our legal team, stating the reasons for us declaring that this process is flawed. We have asked for a meeting with the municipality’s legal team to discuss this.

“The sale of this land will set a precedent for the nonprocedural sale of public open space and could lead to abuse of municipalowned immovable property in general. It will impact on a well-used park and forest for the residents and broader community,”

Viljoen said.

The Zululand Islamic Society did not respond to requests for comment. However, in 2019, when the plans were announced, the society said all it wanted was to finally have a mosque for worshippers, who, apart from residents, also include workers and holidaymakers.

“There have been various sites that the council considered but there were objections because those sites were required for other purposes … We will be guided by the processes that need to be followed,” said

Ntuthuko Isa Khowene, the society’s spokesperson at the time.

The KwaDukuza municipality this week said the process had been done within legal prescripts.

“At this stage land is not being sold. Council has expressed an intention to sell in view of the application received. Currently there is a public participation process whereby members of the public and interested and affected parties can make submissions, which include objections to the intended sale,” said municipal spokesperson Sifiso Zulu.

News Land

en-za

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://times-e-editions.pressreader.com/article/281792813054255

Arena Holdings PTY