Vetch’s lease would ‘be illegal’

The Transport Minister, S’bu Ndebele would be acting outside the law if he was to sign a lease agreement at Vetch’s Pier that would allow for a development company to build luxurious apartments on the land there, say Durban advocates.

The advocates, Douglas Shaw, Peter Rowan, Andrea Gabriel and Andreas Coutsoudis – say that the beach at Vetch’s Pier remained public property and could only be leased to outside parties if this was in the “national interest” or “in the interests of national security”. Moreover, such a decision would have to be ratified by Parliament.

Earlier this year the government announced plans to lease the beach to a Malaysian-controlled company Rocpoint and local empowerment company Vulindlela and the eThekwini municipality for up to 200 years at a rental of R1k a year.

The advocates were asked for their opinion by a Durban firm of attorneys, Cox Yeats, which is representing the Save Vetch’s Association, a group that is fighting to prevent the development of a Small Craft Harbour at Vetch’s Pier.

Michael Jackson, an attorney acting for the Save Vetch’s Association, has written to Ndebele and Durban municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe asking them to abandon the lease proposal.

Earlier this year Sutcliffe confirmed that the Durban Point Development Company had applied to Ndebele to lease the property, including the beach, and relied on the old Seashore Act of 1935 for the lease proposal.

The developer says that its lease application was based on an opinion from another Durban attorney, Norman Brauteseth, who argued that Ndebele was entitled to sign the lease agreement for the beach as the land was part of Durban Harbour and was covered under the South African Transport Services Act.

However, advocates Coutsoudis, Gabriel, Rowan and Shaw say that this is incorrect and that ownership of coastal land is controlled by the newer Integrated Coastal Management Act of 2008.

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