INLSA
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, has been asked to speak at a community meeting in Clairwood, amid concerns about the impact of the planned dig-out port in Durban.
With local anger and concern mounting over the proposed rezoning of Clairwood, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been asked to give a keynote speech at a community conference on the future of one of Durban’s oldest residential areas.
Gordhan’s office was not able to say whether or not he would attend, but a spokesman for the eThekwini municipality confirmed that mayor James Nxumalo or his representative would open the meeting next weekend.
The city recently outlined controversial plans to rezone Clairwood from “special residential” to commercial and industrial “logistics” purposes, as part of the city’s Back of Port Local Area Plan.
The plan, which affects the entire residential section of Clairwood, is closely related to the restructuring of land use south of the city because of Transnet’s proposed development of two multibillion-rand dig-out ports in Durban.
Clairwood Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association spokes-man Mervyn Reddy announced yesterday that a conference would be held at the Clairwood Tamil Institute on September 1 to discuss the city’s latest proposals, and to restore the hope of residents.
“We want to give impetus to the redevelopment of Clairwood as a residential area and to showcase its rich history, despite all the calamities we have faced over many decades,” he said.
Reddy expressed disappointment that the city had failed to respond to a memorandum submitted to it on September 26 urging officials to scrap proposals to rezone Clairwood.
“The city, by dragging its feet on Clairwood, has created considerable insecurity and uncertainty for residents over the future of the area. This has opened the floodgates for illegal businesses and opportunists to invade the area and to contribute further to its decay.”
Meanwhile, another consultation meeting, organised by the city, is due to be held tomorrow night, also at the Clairwood Tamil Institute.
Several such meetings in the South Durban area over the past few weeks have been called off following objections by |the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and other groups.
Alliance members have complained that residents had not been given proper access to all the relevant planning studies which would enable them to respond to the plans.
City spokesman Thabo Mofokeng said at the weekend that there was no plan to “relocate or forcibly remove” residents of the South Durban area.
“The current zoning rights for property owners will remain and retain legal status and only when land is sold or redeveloped or acquired will the new zoning take effect in terms of the proposed future zoning,” he said.
Duncan du Bois, the DA councillor for the Bluff, said at the weekend that the alliance and its co-ordinator Desmond D’Sa were acting “undemocratically” by preventing council-led meetings from going ahead.
“By denying stakeholders the right to hear the other side, it would appear, the D’Sa camp is deliberately fuelling emotions in an attempt to forge community resistance, not-withstanding the fact that the South Durban Basin urgently needs new thinking and forward planning.”
Du Bois said the DA would not support any project which called for the mass upheaval or removal of people.
