Mary’s Fancy Home Owners
Association takes Govt to court
MARY’S FANCY--Mary’s Fancy Home Owners Association (MFHOA) says it has been “forced” to take legal action against government to obtain what it calls “public information” requested about development works in the area.
The Association claims government continues to endorse development in the area despite being cautioned against doing so. The Association says it has warned government against developing certain areas of Mary’s Fancy Estate, including the area called “Mary’s Fancy Gut,” as this endangers residents and can lead to landslides.
The association says it has sent letters to Government dating back to 2001. “The MFHOA even included a report from a local engineering company which had listed the risks of developing the Mary’s Fancy gut and other areas of Mary’s Fancy Estate,” the association said in a press release. “The flash floods (on July 30, 2005) and the resulting landslides in Mary’s Fancy Estate were proof of the valid concerns raised by the MFHOA.”
The association said its plea not to develop certain areas had fallen on def ears. “Government still allowed development of these particular areas, ignoring the objections raised by the MFHOA and therefore willingly risks the safety of the residents,” it said.
“And to make matters even worse, building permits for the Mary’s Fancy gut area were allegedly granted to the developers without a planning permit for the area being approved by the Executive Council. How this is possible remains a mystery, which can also be said for the continued development in the Mary’s Fancy gut being allowed by government,” it continued.
The Association said it appeared as if developers were working around the clock to complete development as soon as possible, while the MFHOA is exhausting all avenues to obtain the public documentation, to assess the current and planned future development.
“On numerous occasions, MFHOA has requested via letters to the relevant government departments to see all public information regarding the development in the Mary’s Fancy gut area and the planned development of Mary’s Fancy Hill Top, such as planning permits and/or building permits and so forth.
“This information is public information and government is obliged to hand over all public documentation in accordance with the ‘Wet Openhaarheid van Bestuur’ within a period of three weeks,” the release stated. “In March 2006 the MFHOA had instructed their lawyer to request this information on their behalf, as government had not submitted the requested information.
“Since then, again no information has been provided by government concerning the ongoing development and planned development in Mary’s Fancy Estate and therefore the MFHOA is forced to take government to court in order to obtain public documentation.”
The Association said it regretted taking this route to obtain public documentation.
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