Suburban residents win right to erect gates
After a battle lasting more than four years, the residents of Brooklyn in Pretoria have permission to implement road closures and make their area a gated community, says a Pretoria News report. The protracted battle with the city started in 2012 and eventually went to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) on various occasions. This week, Judge Neil Tuchten suggested the parties should try to find common ground.
Tuchten described the handling of the matter over the years by the city as ‘deplorable’ and slapped it with a punitive costs order. It was explained by the legal team for the security village that they had been plagued by crimes such as armed robberies over the years. These were mostly committed by way of vehicular access.
The court heard that the restriction of access did not mean that an area had the right to prevent the freedom of movement, but rather to focus on the monitoring of people. If an incident did occur, it could be reported and the community could close down the gates, preventing the suspects from escaping.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
