The department of water and sanitation (DWS) has been found to have failed to address racial and gender disparities in its leasing process at the Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West.
As a result, black and female applicants continued to face indirect unfair discrimination in violation of the constitution, a report released by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on Wednesday said.
The report focused on alleged unfair discrimination and administrative failures within the Hartbeespoort Dam economy.
The investigation followed complaints from community members and business owners who claimed that the department had, for years, allocated state-owned land along the shoreline of the dam in a manner that unfairly discriminated against black applicants.
Concerns were also raised about noise pollution and a lack of enforcement of planning, building and environmental bylaws by the Madibeng local municipality, which had escalated tensions between mainly black and white residents.
In September 2024, tensions were high in the area, with black business owners taking to the streets and claiming they were attacked and marginalised.
At the time, a black-owned restaurant was set alight, allegedly by white residents.
The commission said it found the department had revoked Permissions to Occupy (PTOs) without notice or an opportunity for affected individuals to be heard, breaching the right to just administrative action.
“Madibeng [municipality] failed to adopt and enforce bylaws regulating noise, planning and building controls, and failed to process planning and licensing applications timeously, violating residents’ rights to fair administrative action.
“These institutional failures have worsened racial tensions between black and white residents and business owners in Hartbeespoort,” commissioner Tshepo Madlingozi said.
These institutional failures have worsened racial tensions between black and white residents and business owners in Hartbeespoort
— Tshepo Madlingozi, commissioner
The commission recommended that the department finalise and adopt the revised lease policy and amend related regulations within 180 days and submit these to the commission.
It further advised that the department develop a comprehensive transformation plan — including numerical transformation targets, measures to address historical exclusion, timelines for processing outstanding leases, and a transparent communication plan — also within 180 days.
The department should also review all revoked PTOs within 90 days, reinstate them where appropriate, allow affected persons to make representations, and report back to the commission.
“Parties with complaints relating to maladministration, corruption or irregularities in leasing are advised to approach the Office of the Public Protector for redress. Parties with unresolved criminal complaints are advised to approach the North West provincial [police] commissioner of SAPS for redress.”
Madlingozi said while they received objections from both black and white residents as well as the department regarding some of the directives, the commission was doing its work without fear or favour for the dignity of people.
He said he hoped the report would address some of the complaints, as it spoke to the lived experiences of those who felt excluded and unheard.
Madlingozi called on the municipality, police and other entities not to treat the findings and directives as a criticism but as an opportunity to rebuild trust and restore fairness and to advance transformation.
Sowetan
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