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Why Lifting the Moratorium on Land Sales is a BAD Idea

By

Zanoxolo Wayile

At the Special Council Meeting of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality on 25 January 2010, the Executive Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile announced the lifting of the moratorium on the sale of Municipal Land. In the same breath he said that the moratorium was being lifted only with special pre-conditions attached. At the council meeting Wayile refused to reveal these special conditions.

Naturally we all know (or suspect) that these ‘pre-conditions’ on the sale of Municipal land will be of a social and political form calculated to calm the masses, shut up the Alternative and pay off the masters – don’t look shocked, that is how society operates now, deal with it!

My reservations around the sale of municipal (read ‘ratepayers’) land are many:

  1. The timing of this announcement I feel is wrong in terms of an economic point of view as; the property market has not completely recovered, the municipality is under fire for placing the ratepayers in a cash CRISIS and certain ratepayers are pushing for an ill advised rates boycott. It is a well known fact in business that the wrong time to sell is when you are under pressure – buyers sniff blood and force you into making bad decisions.
  2. Without being aware of the final conditions of sale one can only assume that housing developments that contain an element of integration and that ‘redress the past’ will take preference. Redressing the past also has to do with dignity and acceptance into a social strata. Think of it this way; “If your new neighbour is able to afford to live in your neighbourhood as a result of a ‘special condition’ then you will automatically look down on that neighbour – some people will call that racism in order to shut you up and continue pursuing their own selfish agendas!”
  3. Unfortunately many people will have many different ideas which will force the “Task Team Mayor” to form YATT (Yet Another Task Team) in order to deal with conflicting opinions. By the way, Mr Mayor you can avoid this sad situation by ensuring that the sale of land is only done along strict business lines with no other agendas.
  4. To me the timing of this announcement smacks of cheap electioneering. No, make that expensive for the ratepayers and cheap for the politicians! We know that the Desperate Alternative have been calling for the lifting of the moratorium on land sales and we also know that come election time influence has to be used by the incumbent party to ensure that they are re-elected. In addition the provision of housing and land was the clarion call that swept the ANC into power so it is very clever of the ruling party to, in one fell swoop; shut up the Desperate Alternative, ‘pay off’ the developers and provide the masses with the hope that they too will be able to live; “In a big house with a big car with a beautiful wife, and to ask themselves, well, how did I get here?” – thanks Talking Heads.

I remember myself saying to employees (aaah isn’t it great to NOT have any?); “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions!” so, ‘Mr Mayor who always has his door open’ should you wish to continue with the lifting of the moratorium here are some:

  1. Our Metro needs jobs and investment. Offer some of that Industrial land on special conditions to commerce and industry that can bring a certain number of jobs into our Metro – we have 16 lawyers in our employ let them work out the finer details.
  2. Don’t dangle the Golden Carrot to uproot and lure people to areas that they have no historical tie to – the apartheid government did that by booting people out and caused a huge amount of trouble and fracturing of ‘normal society’. You cannot force people to live together, we are actually past the colour thing and now look for shared experience and a meeting of the minds in the people we socialise and live next to.
  3. Stop the special conditions and rates that churches enjoy. You mentioned 400 splinter churches in the Metro alone – why must the ratepayer foot the bill for someone else’s opium? Yes, I know of churches established just to take advantage of your special conditions and rates and, on top of that, these selfsame churches operate as landlords in order to top up their coffers to ‘continue with the Lord’s work’ – go figure.
  4. Have a long hard re-look at land that could be sold – in the years since services were laid people have got tired of waiting, moved on and resettled changing the structure around the open areas which has forced the developers and land planners to plan around that moratorium.
  5. Use money raised from the sale of land to encourage the inner city developers to create an attractive environment that will result in an influx of jobs and then the resurgence of a ‘normal society’ will take place organically.

Of course we are always eager to hear your learned opinions in the comments section below.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.

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Comments

  1. ANYTHING the ANC does, is in pursuit of personal riches – at the ultimate expense of the general population. They embody all that is wrong with politics, which is a great pity, because in 94 they had a great vision which has been destroyed.