The Tshwane Metro’s threats to sue the cultural village of Kleinfontein to comply with the Spatial Planning and Land-Use Management Act (SPLUMA) amount to administrative negligence and a deliberate attempt at political marginalisation.
The Metro has repeatedly failed to engage with Kleinfontein’s management to discuss the matter, despite several invitations. The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) believes the Metro is, therefore, guilty of gross negligence.
The residents of Kleinfontein initiated their legitimate pursuit of being granted town status before 2000 with a formal application to the then Peri-Urban Areas Health Board.
This application was later transferred to the Kungwini Local Municipality and, in 2013, to the Tshwane Metro.
To date, twelve years later, Kleinfontein’s application has still not been finalised.
Over the past three months, senior officials, including the Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Aaron Maluleka, repeatedly promised to arrange a meeting with Kleinfontein’s management. However, all five commitments were either postponed or completely ignored:
• 2 June 2025: Promise of proposed dates – no follow-up.
• 12 June 2025: Meeting proposed to 17 June – no confirmation.
• 29 June 2025: Freedom Front Plus proposes a third date – no venue or time confirmed.
• 30 June 2025: Final request for confirmation – no response.
• 11 July 2025: Freedom Front Plus sets a deadline – no response from the Mayor’s Office.
This pattern of empty promises and administrative evasion is no accident.
It is part of a broader political agenda using Kleinfontein as a pawn, while a blind eye is turned to 16 illegal settlements in the Metro.
The Freedom Front Plus formally requested that the full report by the Mayor’s Subcommittee on Human Settlements on so-called illegal developments be disclosed.
The party also demands an investigation into how the information was leaked to the media, which breached the confidentiality of internal processes and fuelled community distrust.
The threats of demolition, the sudden increase in the general property tax from R50 000 to R2 million per month and the legal action against Kleinfontein are not only unjust, but also constitutionally questionable.
Section 235 of the Constitution protects the right to cultural self-determination. Section 31 affirms the right to community identity. The Tshwane Metro’s actions violate both.
The Freedom Front Plus will not stand idly by and look on while a self-sustaining community is persecuted for its culture and principles. The party will continue to defend Kleinfontein’s existence on all fronts.
Kleinfontein residents deserve to be treated fairly, not to be persecuted as part of political games.
