The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is shifting its approach on manganese operations in Markman, opting to use zoning laws to mount legal challenges and clamp down on operators illegally occupying land.
The handlers were again in the spotlight during a human settlements standing committee meeting on Friday where a report highlighted 12 erfs found to be noncompliant.
At least two other operators are known to have occupied land illegally.
Efforts to rein in the handlers — long blamed for the deterioration of Markman and for placing pressure on public infrastructure such as roads and stormwater systems — are now being led by the human settlements department through the enforcement of zoning bylaws.
Acting human settlements executive director Owethu Pantshwa said handlers would now be required to comply with the integrated zoning scheme adopted in 2023.
“We noted that most of those companies are zoned under industrial one, not two, but in terms of the scheme, they should be under two,” he said.
According to Pantshwa’s report, 12 properties were flagged as noncompliant.
“The site inspection revealed that there are 18 manganese operators in Markman Industrial,” it says.
“Twelve of these are operating without fully complying with the requirements of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Land Use Scheme, 2023, in respect of appropriate land use rights, including provisions for handling hazardous substances and noxious use.”
DA councillor Annette Lovemore questioned whether the municipality was still trying to enforce compliance under noxious use, saying a previous legal opinion had found manganese handling did not fall under that category.
“The report seems to suggest that these letters were served for noxious use,” she said.
“Those were issues years back, and a legal opinion we obtained clearly said manganese ore handling is not a noxious use.”
Pantshwa responded that a new legal opinion, obtained in 2024 after the promulgation of the 2023 zoning scheme, found the companies were not compliant with zoning requirements.
Human settlements political head Thembinkosi Mafana criticised officials for failing to flag what he described as an invasion by operators, saying the oversight could weaken the municipality’s court challenge on illegal occupations.
“There are companies in Markman which occupied our land without any approval from us. They made money and we want what is owed now,” Mafana said.
“The list of 12 is not complete because I know at least two other companies are operating illegally.
“Their occupation didn’t happen yesterday — some go as far back as 15 years — but we were only alerted last year.
“We have officials assigned to that area. Where were they?
“If we take them [companies] to court, which is what we want to do now, the question will obviously be: what about the last 15 years?”
DA councillor Masixole Zinto said the municipality needed to regularise manganese operations rather than allowing chaos to persist.
“We have a product that is wanted the world over.
“We need to regularise the wrongs that are done there because if the economic development, tourism and agriculture directorate cannot lead, then human settlements, as the custodian of land, must give direction,” he said.
“The question is what do we do to make sure they pay, instead of treating them like cowboys.”
The Herald
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