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Tuesday 15 March 2011
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Legal bill stands set of plans for resident Yvonne Harrison to build a three-storey HE City of Cape Town will house blocking neighbour Anthony not write off any of the legal Herman’s sea view. costs which the Camps Bay ResiThe long and drawn-out case was dents’ and Ratepayers’ Associa- taken to the Western Cape High tion (CBRRA) owes them after Court twice, then the Supreme losing a case it took to the Consti- Court of Appeal, and finally the tutional Court. Constitutional Court, where the association lost. Deputy Mayor and Mayoral ComCBRRA has already paid R800 000 mittee Member for Finance, Ian out of their “war chest” towards Neilson, last week rebuffed the as- their own legal costs and still has to sociation’s call to have the fees cough up for the City’s costs, which waived. “We would be taking other could amount to about R900 000 or ratepayers’ money to support the more. decision of one organisation that Herman’s property is situated in pursued a matter that was found to Blinkwater Road, more or less diagnot have merit. onally behind Harrison’s home on “They must take responsibility the corner of Geneva Drive and for their own decisions, not try to Blinkwater Road. dump that responsibility onto other Herman, a partner in a firm of atratepayers. If the courts had torneys and the second applicant in thought there was merit in their ac- his company’s name PS Bookselltions, they would have awarded ers, represented CBRRA. costs accordingly,” he said. The city in turn teamed up with The request came after the associ- Harrison as the second respondent. ation lost a six-year court battle CBRRA’s argument is that Harriagainst the City, which approved a son’s home exceeds the 10m bylaw restriction and was not measured from the natural ground level but from an artificially raised finished ground level. In terms of the zoning scheme, a basement and a mezzanine floor are not a storey. Chris Willemse, CBRRA chairperson, said that although Harrison reviewed her building plans twice to accommodate the objecMONEY LOST: The Camps Bay Residents’ tions, she “manipulated” the and Ratepayers’ Association (CBRRA) has plans. spent R800 000 and is facing an additional The Constitutional Court R900 000 legal bill after disputing the buil dismissed the CBRRA’s apding plans for this house on the corner of peal and ruled that the instiBlinkwater Road and Geneva Drive. tution allowed itself to be
Au Naturel
VERNA VAN DIEMEN
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Cape Town was one of 50 sites around the world to participate in a cheeky protest against oil dependency and the car culture on Saturday March 12 by celebrating the bicycle and the power and individuality of the human body. To symbolise the vulnerability of the cyclist in traffic, many cyclists were semiclad as they rode down the Fan Walk in Green Point. Photo: Nasief Manie/Foto 24 drawn into a dispute between two neighbours and it now has to bear the consequences of that decision. At the CBRRA general meeting held at The Rotunda in Camps Bay last Monday, members asked ward councillor Marga Haywood to set up a meeting with Neilson to discuss having the costs written off. In the meeting, Willemse said to Haywood: “It would be bizarre that the city would close down a ratepayers’ organisation. It would look very vindictive for the DA to do this just before an upcoming election.” Haywood replied in the meeting: “I will make a commitment to go with Chris to see Neilson and to persuade him not to pursue court action.” But Neilson turned down their request even before they could set up the meeting. “The court awarded costs on a party/party basis, where we pay our legal team on an attorney-client basis, which is higher. Thus the city is in fact already partly covering some of the legal costs,” he said. Willemse said he does not feel the association acted irresponsibly. “Despite having the best legal
systems, the courts of the land have failed us rather miserably. We didn’t choke, we just got a bad decision. The case had tremendous merit. “The Supreme Court ruled that the contravention was raised in reply rather than in founding papers and would not condone the point, making it a legal technical decision,” he said. Neilson repudiated their argument. “It is important to note that the city does not agree that the costs arose merely due to a technicality. The city won the case on correct interpretations of the law.” Neilson said CBRRA decided to pursue the matter to the Constitutional Court when it should have accepted the outcome at the High Court stage. “When it was clear that the court did not accept their arguments, they would have saved themselves a great deal of legal costs if they had done so,” said Neilson. The CBRRA had won eight court cases since 1996, thereby making up for the expensive court case, said Willemse.
“Yes we realise that the money would come from the ratepayers’ purse but it is a give-and-take. We’ve given more than we have taken because we have won eight cases and we have established case law in the country,” he said. The CBRRA has now decided that it will no longer take on court cases on behalf of residents unless they are indemnified from any legal costs. “We cannot finance cases but we will look at the merits and if we get indemnity against any costs we will become co-applicant by moral high ground,” he said. CBRRA is classified as universitas personarum body, so by law the organisation is an independent entity, distinct from the individuals who compose it, which means that neither its members, management committee or any sub-committee shall be answerable for the debts, engagements, liabilities or obligations of the association. Willemse said the case was funded by the association’s “war chest”, from donations and from the legal team who worked on a contingency basis.
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