Betrayal, fury, disillusionment, distrust and disbelief. These are some of the emotions Langebaan business owners and residents expressed after there seem to be no progress, interest or solutions offered for some shop owners who are still cut off from the main traffic due to the prolonged road works.
Shop owners in the beleaguered Oostewal Road have been waiting for almost a month now for some form of assistance, support or solution to their dire situation, but nothing has really changed since the first crisis-meeting with Saldanha Mayor Marius Koen and a SBM delegation on 21 September 2016. Neither was any feedback given after the last meeting on 6 October.
The response weskusonTheline received this morning on some questions emailed to the SBM management early last week only added insult to injury. Shop owners feel they have been betrayed and abandoned while the responsible “Powers That Be” only cover for one another and themselves, leaving them to take the fall for their folly.
Judith Breytenbach, owner of Gypsy Mojo and Silhouette Slimming who arranged the crisis-meetings, is especially furious that non-related issues and excuses are now offered in reply to their demands for straight answers and accountability.
In the reply to WKOTL’s questions, it was mentioned that the buildings which some of the affected shop owners have been renting from Deon Fouché have no business rights and that the rezoning plans played a role in the planning of the road construction.
“Do they truly think we are idiots? I have been trading there for more than five years and Le Jacques Interior Decorators was here before me. If it was illegal trading, why did the Municipality allow it for so long? I never heard them complaining when they received our monthly municipal payments? The fact that building owner Deon was allowed to lease the buildings without obtaining business rights created a wicked precedent and just proves the hypocrisy and conniving of the so-called leaders,” she said.
Another controversial issue is that the tender process and contract documents which town engineer Gerrit Smith was supposed to discuss with business owners at the meeting, never happened. In reply to WKOTL’s query, it was said that Gerrit DID have the documents at the meeting, but “nobody asked for it”.
“Councillor André Kruger facilitated the meeting and stuck to the agenda with an iron fist – one would expect that he himself would have dealt with such an important item on the agenda? Gerrit Smith avoided eye contact with me the entire evening, never mind speaking to me! And why didn’t he discuss it as promised when he addressed the meeting?
“This only confirms my suspicion that they are hiding something. Contracts like those should anyway be made available to the public – why must we beg and crawl to get insight in them if they have nothing to hide?”, she said.
“If they use those kind of excuses, they will only make a fool of themselves in court. This is not what we voted for and if this is the disrespectful way they treat their tax-paying residents, they do not belong in office. The war is one – this was the last straw!”
* Support for the distraught shop owners has been pouring in from various social media groups as far as Pretoria. It seems the fact that nobody is taking responsibility or is being held accountable for the missing underground service plans or the poor planning, is unacceptable and a cause of great concern to most people.
Also read: https://www.weskusontheline.co.za/2016/10/19/1281/
Photo: Rocky and Judith Breytenbach, owners of Silhouette Marine & Motor Spares and Gypsy Mojo and Silhouette Slimming respectively, who spearheaded the initial crisis meetings with the SBM