Heidelberg couple at wit's end with dogs and licenses:
To this date, we have not had a response from Hessequa Municipality about the attached mail sent on 18 June 2024. We have taken it as a sign that we are no longer welcome in Heidelberg and have put our house and businesses on the market. We have also put in an offer on a farm in Tulbagh, so we will not be anywhere near the Hessequa municipality.
My husband went to the municipality in Heidelberg to take out licenses for our dogs so that we can at least abide by the laws until we leave (which we hope is in less than two months). He was told in no uncertain terms that Mr Frikkie Muller told them to not give us licenses under any circumstances.
So, we get communi-cation to say we have to have licenses, but then we are refused licenses. Does that make any sense?
I was then visited by a law enforcement officer who told me that we have until the 11th of September to get rid of our dogs. I did not understand the date, but then went and checked our emails, and our three-month extension was sent to us on the 11th of June. We asked for an extension to be able to sell the house and businesses. We are in the process of now closing one business (which should be done by 1 September) and selling the other one (which we hope will be done by 1 September). But the house is not sold yet. So we cannot move by the 11th of September. We are still hoping for 1 October.
In the meantime, my husband phoned Mr Muller to try and explain to him that we are leaving, but it won't be before 11 September. Mr Muller was very rude and said he was not listening to any excuses and that he would come and pick up our dogs on the 11th. We don't understand why he is so hostile. We are doing everything in our power to get out of Heidelberg - at this point, nothing will keep us here.
I would like to lodge a complaint against Mr Muller for harassment, intimidation and bullying.
I am disappointed that we did not get an answer to our previous Email and hope to get feedback on this one. At this point, I do not understand what this "caring" municipality is expecting of us. We are truly trying everything we can to get away from Hessequa.
