Heritage farmhouse in McGregor unlawfully demolished by municipality
Historic buildings left to be stripped, despite provincial MPLs recommending it be used as a safe house
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A photograph of the outbuildings and farmhouse comprising the Mouton House in McGregor, taken in 2018 before it was completely stripped by vandals. Photo: supplied.
- In 2012 the Langeberg Local Municipality bought land for state housing in McGregor which included the Mouton House heritage farmhouse and other buildings.
- The municipality failed to secure the buildings, which were stripped by vandals.
- The Western Cape legislature had recommended the farmhouse be converted into a safe house for women and children, but in 2024 the municipality demolished it without authorisation from Heritage Western Cape.
- Repeated requests by a former councillor for information related to the demolition have been refused, leading to formal a complaint with the national Information Officer.
While investigating the refusal by the Langeberg Local Municipality to respond to a councillors repeated requests for information, GroundUp has discovered that the historic Mouton farmhouse and heritage outbuildings in McGregor were demolished unlawfully by the municipality in March 2024. This was despite provincial recommendations that the property be used as a safe house.
Municipal manager Daniël Lubbe says the council had “unanimously resolved” to approve the demolition and it was a “lawful, necessary and responsible intervention”.
But former FF+ councillor Theuns Coetzee says repeated requests for information surrounding that decision have been denied. While he was still a councillor, he repeatedly asked for correspondence between the relevant municipal director and Heritage Western Cape (HWC), which must authorise any demolition or alterations of a building built more than 60 years ago. Coetzee, after exhausting attempts through the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) process, has now laid a complaint with the national Information Officer.
HWC deputy director Colette Scheermeyer confirmed that no authorisation for the demolition of Mouton House was issued.
Scheermeyer said HWC received a tip-off about the demolition and a site inspection in March 2025 revealed only “building rubble and parts of foundations remained visible on site”.
HWC then issued a letter, in terms of Section 51 of the Heritage Resources Act dealing with fines and offences, which “allows the applicant to proceed with authorisations from other authorities to legalise the property”. It also served as a notice that criminal charges could be laid for violating the Act.
However, the letter is pending until the municipality pays a R5,000 “processing fee” levied to recover the costs of processing such applications.
All that is left of the 11-room farmhouse and outbuildings in McGregor acquired as part of a land deal by the Langeberg municipality a decade ago. Photo: Steve Kretzmann
Proposed safe house
The Mouton farmhouse and outbuildings became a municipal asset when the land was purchased in 2012 for almost R8-million through a provincial human settlement grant to build a 496-unit subsidised housing development.
The first 100 of the planned 496 units – in what has come to be known as White City – were handed to beneficiaries in 2017. The housing project extends to the boundary wall of the farm’s original garden and farmyard.
In August 2022, the provincial standing committee on human settlements inspected the site as part of an oversight visit. The committee’s report states: “Due to vandalism caused by young unemployed drug abusers who have been selling vandalised parts of the house to sustain their addiction the house is in disrepair.”
The report states that the Langeberg municipality applied to the national Department of Environmental Affairs for the repair of Mouton House, and the application was approved on condition no further vandalism took place.
But Lubbe said, “Municipal records do not reflect a standalone approval issued specifically for the repair of Mouton House outside of the broader project framework.” He said upgrading of Mouton House was part of a larger Green Village Project submitted to the environmental affairs department in 2016, but it never came to fruition.
The committee had also recommended the municipality “engage with the Department of Social Development to utilise Mouton House as a safe house”.
The department’s spokesperson, Esther Lewis, said no safe house exists in the Langeberg region; the closest one is in Caledon. She said the department was unaware of the standing committee’s recommendation.
Satellite images show that by July 2023 the roofs had been stripped, most likely along with fittings, wiring, and plumbing.
Lubbe told GroundUp, “The municipality rejects any suggestion of negligence, inaction, or improper conduct in relation to the management of the Mouton House site”.
He said a report detailing repeated complaints of criminal activity at the premises, an inability by SAPS or the municipality to police the property, along with serious structural damage and absence of funding, was presented to the municipal portfolio committee, and then placed before the full council.
He said the demolition was then “authorised through a formal council resolution” on 28 February 2024.
But in his initial PAIA application, Coetzee stated the Director of Economic, Social and Integrated Development Services, Celeste Matthys, misled council by stating she had applied for demolition approval from Heritage Western Cape.
Late last year, Coetzee submitted a PAIA request, but received no response from Lubbe, who is also the municipality’s information officer.
Coetzee then lodged an appeal on 4 February and the internal appeal authority again refused the request. The appeal was discussed as a restricted agenda item and Coetzee, as the appellant (although still a councillor) was told to leave the hearing.
Meanwhile, the “administration officials whose conduct and veracity were directly under scrutiny” remained, Coetzee states in his subsequent complaint to the national Information Officer.
Coetzee resigned as councillor on 4 March.
A satellite image captured in 2023, revealing the roof sheeting of the old Mouton farmhouse and outbuildings were stripped. (Mouton buildings are at bottom right of the image.)
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