Anyone want to rent my house in Marina Da Gama? It on the water with mountain views of Lakeside, false bay and Muizenberg beach round the corner.Rental of this home will be nice and cheap. I cannot afford to sell it, with property prices being so low, so I guess that the only way is to rent it out and seek accommodation elsewhere.

It is my opinion that the Marina Da Gama Association is doing this community a huge, huge disservice and costing us all a lot of money (and years off our lives). What are they doing to our property prices?

Seriously, with this huge controversy going around, no-one wants to buy, rent, or live in Marina Da Gama any longer and the value of our properties are declining daily. Houses are on the market for months on end and the estate agent boards litter the pavements over the weekends. People are forced to drop their selling price in order to get rid of their houses. (What a pity this did not happen before the City of Cape Town did their valuations. At least then our rates would not have been this high. Unfortunately, now the next valuation is only a couple of years down the line and in the meantime we are stuck with property we cannot sell and rates which are sky-high.)

One of the reasons for the security scheme was to IMPROVE our property values, but, because ExCom do not want to listen to its members, we now sit with a situation where people are asked to put pressure on their neighbours to join the scheme. A friend of mine lives in Cannon Island Way and I am told that they even go as far as to publish what each person owes towards the scheme, even if you did not sign up!!! How dare they publish such private information!? After all, I am told the schemes are still supposed to be voluntary! Who wants to live in a neighbourhood where you are ostracized, intimidated and where your privacy is invaded?

The threat of monthly levies being implemented will also put off any potential buyer. Who knows where it will lead, especially if you have an Executive Committee who, clearly, are not even prepared to listen to reason? They have not even bothered to answer William’s very reasonable request to respond to his well balanced letter.

Our Councillor, Demetri Qually, will also certainly not get my vote again. I think he could have solved this mess, but instead he seems to be a spoke in the wheel. Demetri, please, if you can help at all, now is not the time to remain on the fence. Let this madness stop!

submitted by Corlia