22 Mar 2021

Selebi Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) has taken the initiative to amend bye-laws and make them relevant to today’s prevailing conditions.

SPTC spokesperson, Mr Tsholofelo Mogale said in an interview that the council has had consultations on the issue with ward development committees, Ipelegeng workers and the business community.

He said the council was also conducting an online survey through a web link shared on the SPTC Facebook page where the community could log in and participate in the survey.

He said survey ethics would be observed as well as confidentiality. He urged respondents to be free and to state how they felt about the general bye-laws and how they could  be improved.

The survey ends March 31. Mr Mogale said the process of amending the bye-laws would follow all the stages until the minister’s endorsement.

He noted that SPTC general bye-laws were enacted in 1973, and that they were only amended and reviewed once in 1974.

The bye-laws regulate health and sanitation, presence of livestock and other animals in the township, streets, fire control measures, food premises and noise and nuisance.

Penalties prescribed, Mr Mogale said, were not deterrent enough as the bye-laws prescribed a minimum fine of P10 and P200 maximum.

“People often contravene the bye-laws because the fines are too low,” he said.  Furthermore, he stated that it was vital for the penalties and certain aspects of the bye-laws to be revised to suit today’s standards if they were to be effective and deterrent.  

Mr Mogale noted that the ninth bye-law said no person shall without the written consent of the council keep or graze any livestock within the council area except in fenced areas as might be set aside by the council for that purpose.The bye-law also prohibits the use of any stable, cow shed, pen or sty which was unfit, undesirable or objectionable by reason of its locality, construction, condition or manner of use.

The bye-law, he stated, had been amended to introduce a new sub bye-law that provided that any person who failed to comply with bye-law nine committed an offence and was liable to a fine of P2 000, or in default of payment thereof, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and on a second or subsequent conviction, a fine of P3 000 or in default of payment thereof, imprisonment for a term not exceeding eight months. ENDS