A little bit of intimadation

Regarding: Diesel refuelling station on our neighbour’s farm (Ged 1021 van Hartbee****rt B, wolwekraal , losperfontein, brits – Voster) I am a widow and I am the owner of property GED 600 van Hartbee****rt B, Nr 410 JQ at Wolwekraal, Losperfontein (Brits). I am sending this letter regarding concerns and problems that we are experiencing with the truck refuelling station that has recently opened alongside us on the property of Theuns and Marie Voster. (GED 1021 van Hartbee****rt B) Contact nr for the Vosters. This diesel station is situated on prime agriculture land in the middle of several huge farms. As from Dec 2016 this property has suddenly started operating as a diesel refuelling station for the trucks of the Reinhardt transport cc company. We as the neighbours were never informed verbally or in writing that this property was going to be used for this purpose. Neither was there ever any notices posted on their fences or in the local newspapers that this property will be used in this way. If you look on the google maps you will notice that the extra diesel tanks went up in March 2017. Several issues have arisen from this business: 1. The 3 refuelling diesel pumps are situated less than a 140m from our house and present a serious safety concern to us as there are no visible safety measures in place. The diesel tankers (sebokeng fuels) deliver diesel up to 4 times per week that we have seen. 2. The business operates 7 days a week from 5am to 22:30pm at night with no stops in between. 3. The trucks pass our house in the front of the street up to 15 times an hour at times. Our house is located 20m from the tar road. When they pass the house, they also hoot several times at all hours of the day. (All of the houses in this area are directly alongside the road and all of them are faced with the same situation regarding this). 4. When these trucks enter the property they turn into the oncoming lane to be able to enter the property. This entrance to the property is located close to a turn in the road which means that the oncoming traffic do not know about the truck until they are directly behind them 5. When they exit the property they again turn directly into oncoming traffic from both sides, with cars coming from the losperfontein area having to stop dead in the road to avoid an accident. 6. When these trucks enter the diesel refuelling station alongside us they drive up to our side fence and pass our property again. (This fence is also around 20m from our house – which means that one truck passes our house 4 times per trip). 7. When the trucks of the Reinhardt company (which include transmac trucks, Reinhardt trucks, bafkile trucks and cds logistics) enter the refuelling station they also hoot at their gate, and then hoot again when they line up at the diesel pumps. 8. The diesel refuelling station is unpaved which means that each time a truck enters the property a dust cloud passes over our house. This gets so bad at times that we cannot even go outside at times. (The refuelling station does not have a water tanker so the dust continues from morning till night). 9. The diesel tanker which delivers the diesel, does this at any time of the day, even Sundays, and when it is unloading diesel it makes an ungodly noise for hours. Sebokeng fuels also pass our fence directly and have at one time left the truck alongside our fence for up to a week causing us serious safety concerns. 10. While the trucks are waiting in line to fuel up they all stand in a row alongside our inner fence, which makes it a serious privacy concern for us as these trucks stands for hours alongside the fence with the drivers looking directly onto us and our property. This feels like serious ************ to us. And according to the company rep who had been a truck driver this is just "a little bit of ************" and it is what truck drivers normally do. 11. When these trucks enter at night and pass our fence, their headlights pass directly into our house, while waiting in line they also stand with their headlight on which shines directly into our house. Up to 8 trucks stand like this at any given time. 12. When one of the neighbours approached the Madibeng municipal council they were told that this property is an agricultural property and no business rights were listed on the property. They also confirmed that the property belongs to Theuns and Marie Voster. 13. We have also not found that the property description has been changed at the agriculture council. 14. According to the Reinhardt company representative for this area, this refuelling station will be expanded even more to allow for more trucks to enter and refuel here. Up to 400 trucks will be serviced here. And they will add even more diesel storage tanks on the property. He said that he foresees a lot of problems for every person who lives in the area since this will negatively impact all of us since this is definitely a residential area. 15. A few of the residents of this area maintains the tar road since the road administration do not fix this specific road. Since these trucks (15 trucks per hour) pass this stretch of road the potholes are even harder to maintain. 16. There is a water stream running directly behind this refuelling station on the property that could be seriously contaminated by this station. There are also irrigation canals running in front of the property to the adjoining neighbours farm. 17. This diesel refuelling station has been opened directly in a agriculture area, with two properties alongside it which houses are less than 140m from these diesel pumps. This then begs the question of how and when was a impact study done if not one of the people in the area knew of the opening of this diesel refuelling station. And if this impacts all of the neighbours, the oncoming traffic and the roads, boreholes and all water courses in the area, how legal is this business?