What I know: A summary of the scam to date

The realization that I have had since I read the HOA communication "Trustees' Explanation of the decision to offer increased bulk" is the lack of trust I now have in the HOA.  I cannot believe anything they tell me. That communication was, to be polite, an attempt to mislead homeowners.

Read HOA tries out a new story. I'm not buying it

I'm not naive. I know that there are people who will lie to gain an advantage. I have a simple way of dealing with this: If I find you lied to me, I never believe anything you tell me again. Unless I know it to be true. Because past conduct is a predictor of future conduct.  

But when it is as simple operation as your Home Owners Association that you have to be "suspicious of", well, that is disheartening. 

I like to relax in my home on Thesen Islands, not be on my guard for what scam the HOA is going to try to pull next. And if you read my blog, in the short few years of Thesen Islands, there was another scam that had to be beaten back. And I wasn't involved in the fight against the Vodacom towers, but there was a smell there, too. 

And to think I started this blog to share pictures of the early stages of the development. Now it has turned into a local version of the corruption exposing "Daily Maverick".

But getting to the here and now...

Okay, so this is what I know and what I think. We are being scammed. Thesen Islands is being redeveloped right under our feet. If we do not stand up and say to the trustees "No, you cannot do this", then look forward to living on a building site. Say goodbye to the Islands as you know it. 

Many questions have been asked of the HOA over the last few weeks. I've written letters myself. None have been answered properly. Even a simple question asking "which trustees are standing for re-election?" hasn't been answered. Yet the HOA promises "prompt answers".

Following up on the embarrassing snow job attempted in their December 21, 2018, communication, they are now, in a message sent out on December 31, 2018, saying that

"whilst the trustees stand by their decision" to increase the bulk they are forming a "sub committee" to make "inputs" that the Board of Trustees "will consider, and "if appropriate act upon."

As they say in America, they're taking a leaf right out of the ANC government playbook.  (To do something in the way someone else would do it) 
This is what the ANC does when it finds itself on the back foot. It forms a committee!  

But the trustees stand by their decision!  Of course, they do. Some of them appear to benefit personally from the increasing of the bulk.  

So what is the point of this talk shop? Chaired by a trustee, nogal!  It is a small bone tossed to the homeowners to make us feel that we have some influence. 

Then they add:  "The implementation of the new FAR rules will be held over." What? "Held over" means delayed. But they have already been implemented. Since July, apparently.  You know it but you just never told us.

I have a suggestion for the Trustees: Before you set up a committee, first find out if the majority of homeowners want to increase the bulk and turn Thesen Islands into Knysna Quays? You have never asked us!    

As to the rest of what has been happening, In this void of no answers, a homeowner (me) can only speculate. Here's what I think has happened:

The Design Review Panel (DRP) chaired by Sam Lurie, has been turned into a vehicle to promote business. What type of business, you ask? The business of promoting building on Thesen Islands through renovations, additions and upgrading.

To achieve this, they gutted the Design Guidelines. As Max Diethelm, an owner, says in his letter to the HOA:

"the bulk increase (allowed in the new Guidelines) amounts to some 15 500 m2 or the equivalent of two rugby fields. At only 13 000.00 per m2 it translates into some R 200 million of building activity."

Good business for the designers and architects on the DRP.

And business is what they are very clear about. This is what the DRP in the Chairman's Report, the author unidentified, said in December, 2018:

The "real aim was to provide the stimulation for improvements and possibilities, which we think is now achievable."

Blunt, isn't it? Why the DRP chose to show their cards and disclose their agenda in such a blatant way is a mystery. But we can be thankful that they were so upfront. At least we know where we stand.

Then the mystery is, why did the rest of the trustees go along with this? Surely, they saw that it wasn't in the interests of the huge majority of homeowners? Whose interests they are meant to be representing?

I don't know. But perhaps the answer is in Craig Smith's email. The one that got him banned. Read it here.

In it, you will read that 3 of the trustees, Mark Williams, Lester Day and Remia Eksteen apparently had plans approved with the new added bulk. I say, apparently, as the HOA has refused to answer the questions in Craig Smith's email. Instead, they banned him. But pressure from homeowners has got him un-banned.

Looks like these 3 trustees decided to take advantage of their insider knowledge and submit plans for bigger houses. The other trustees? What did they know about this? They are keeping quiet. And the 3 trustees? They're keeping quiet, too. No explanations, no protests of innocence. Nothing. Surprising? You'd think if there was a plausible explanation, we'd have heard it.

Then the 2nd mystery is that these changes were apparently approved in July, 2018. But only the connected homeowners were told of this. And plans continued to be approved with the new added bulk up right up to when the rest of us were told in the Chairman's Report in December, 2018.

Why this subterfuge? I don't know. Perhaps they thought they wouldn't get away with it. But wanted to get away with as much as they could, for as long as they could? Here also, the HOA is silent.  But it looks like a betrayal of homeowners, for sure.

Then another mystery to me is where was Bill Cooper while all this was happening? Cooper has done a lot of good in his time as Chairman. He came in at a difficult time and steadied the ship. He has overseen a lot of innovative thinking and forward planning.

Obviously trustees change every year, so Cooper hasn't had the same team, but I think he's been a decent Chairman.  Until now, sadly. I hear he was away when this scam was hatched. But what happened when he got back? He's not telling. But he owes us an explanation. And maybe save what's left of his reputation.

So where do we go from here? I think Williams, Day, Eksteen and Lurie need to go. They have no credibility.

In truth, I think the whole lot of them need to go. They haven't looked out for the homeowners. It has been all bullying and bluffing as they try to force through the increased bulk changes.

Some new trustees need to be elected. Paul Burchell appears to be an excellent and experienced manager. He can guide the new trustees. 

The changes to the Design Guidelines must be rolled back immediately. No building permits issued.

A thorough investigation needs to be done into what plans have been approved with the added bulk or any other changes. Whose houses, who were the architects, what were the owners promised and what was expected of them?  

Don't be under any illusions, the Thesen Islands HOA is in big trouble with possibly financial exposure.    Read HOA asks Ex TIDC MD: Why refer this to our accountants? Read his reply

Owners need to stand up an be counted at the AGM. Or give your proxy in to someone you trust. 

We need to take Thesen Islands back. Or suffer the consequences of rampant self interest and greed.

I won't be at the AGM. Thankfully, I am away as the meeting would make me nauseous.

Ken Rutherford