FOR more than two years, Imeson Road residents, in Puntans Hill, have been up-in-arms over the construction of a “building”, which they claim is in contravention of the city’s by-laws and regulations.
In addition, the residents have raised further concerns after the property owners made a special consent application to the eThekwini Municipality to allow for the building, once completed, to be used as a place of worship, specifically a mosque.
They had also asked that the building line be relaxed. A building line is a limit beyond which a house must not extend.
Residents had until last Friday to submit their objections.
Rizana Karrim, whose home is next to the property on which the construction is ongoing, said while she and her family would never oppose any place of worship being built, they would not support it if it caused an inconvenience and usurped the rights of people.
“Since the onset of the construction, there has been no consideration of the residents and the long-term impact it will have on us. Furthermore, Islam places great emphasis on the good treatment of neighbours. It's so sad when developers ignore the Islamic principles.”
Karrim said the property owners had also applied for special consent to open a mosque.
“However, the application was refused based on two factors. Firstly, we live on a one-way narrow looping road, and secondly, it is a closed-knit community.
“Furthermore, when he initially applied for the building he said it was going to be for ‘entertainment’, and had not mentioned even the possibility of it being a place of worship. Now that the building is more than 60% complete, there is this application again. In addition, he has asked for relaxation of the building line. This has been done after he has already encroached onto my property. It should have been done prior to starting construction. A building line is put in place for various reasons, such as if there was a fire, it would not spread from house to house.”
Another resident said they were not notified of the application to open a mosque on their street.
“There was no public consultation with the people who live near the proposed mosque. Some of us only learnt about it from residents that were approached who didn’t even live close by. There also weren't any notices out up outside the property. We believe this was done to ensure that there wouldn’t be any objections. We are now calling on the municipality to stop this construction before it goes any further.”
The developer, who did not want to be named said: “The neighbours are in breach of a contract. I refuse to deal with unscrupulous characters.”
He declined to comment further in regards to the contract.
The eThekwini Municipality did not comment at the time of publication.