Judge slams incompetent municipality

Judge John Murphy granted a court order to a group of property developers, giving the municipality 30 days to either approve or turn down applications lodged with it in terms of the Building Regulations and Building Standards Act and the Centurion Town Planning Scheme. The developers also would be able to sue the municipality for damages if it failed to comply with the court order. Murphy also granted a punitive costs order against the city fathers, saying their ‘unreasonable’ approach deserved to be censured. Property developer Roelof Nel said in court papers it used to take between three and four weeks to get approval for duet houses. In the past, developers had been allowed to go ahead with construction pending final approval so that financing would not be lost. Now, it took six months or more. Renier van Rooyen, of the municipality\'s litigation department, blamed delays on the increase in applications and the ‘human element’, caused by staff shortages and working hours being lost because of staff falling ill or going on leave. Murphy said he found it troubling that the municipality had conceded, in effect, that it was not competent to perform its allocated tasks. Full report on the News24 site