THE FATE OF THE GARGANTUAN multi-millionr and luxury apartment block on Durban’s Berea that was ordered to be torn down by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in June 2015 (nose190) still hangs in the balance. The demolition order for the part-built ninestorey structure has been taken on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal by the developer, Serengeti Rise Industries, supported by the eThekwini Metro Council which irregularly granted permission. The Council faces a huge damages claim should the building have to be demolished.
The appeal was argued in the SCA on 10 May, with lawyers for the neighbouring residents opposing.
In their heads of argument the applicants admitted that the building was constructed illegally but claim the demolition order was unfair and unjust – while the neighbours on the other hand were just short of wanting to provide the dynamite sticks to reclaim their views of the cityscape, ocean and Greyville Racecourse.
In the respondents’ heads of argument presented by Nazeer Cassim SC they maintained that “the conduct of both appellants is highly irregular and may well warrant criminal investigation”.
“The town planning section of this Municipality has been captured… The court cannot countenance unlawful and deceptive conduct [by Serengeti] and thereafter furnish it with an opportunity to remedy the difficulties in which it finds itself by referring the issue of rezoning back to the Municipality. [Serengeti] is the architect of its own misfortune and must bear the consequences,” said Cassim.
The half-built nine-storey building was supposed to comprise 12 luxury apartments complete with a car lift. Serengeti claims it has already spent R61m on the project.
However since the Durban court ruling in 2015 all work has stopped at 347 Currie Rd, Musgrave.
The aggrieved neighbours to the “monstrosity” had successfully convinced Judge Esther Steyn that they were deceived by both the city and the developer who, instead of making information available to them, went to extraordinary lengths to keep their plans secret.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2017 من Noseweek.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 2017 من Noseweek.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Lennie The Liquidator Faces R500,000 Defamation Suit
After losing his cool when his fees were questioned
Panel Beater De Luxe
Danmar Autobody and its erstwhile directors get a serious panel beating in court papers. Corruption and theft are said to have destroyed the firm chaired by Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter, leaving 200 workers destitute and threatening to kill.
Meet Covid Diarist Ronald Wohlman
Ronald Wohlman – EX SOUTH African copywriter, author, and actor – never dreamt that his lockdown diaries, written on Facebook and followed by people all over the world – would become his “life’s work”.
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Beware: Appearances can be deceptive
Flogging A (Battery-Driven) Dead Horse
Why plug-in vehicles are not all they’re cracked up to be– and, likely, never will be
Everybody Drinks Corona
I am hesitant to go Into the pub today. Not because it’s illegal, but there is a crème colored 1985 Mercedes 300D parked behind the pine tree. This means the devil is inside; that’s what we call Dr. De Villiers. You don’t know whether you will encounter the good doctor with the charming bedside manner or the violent, bipolar bully. The problem is, most of the time, you can never be sure which it is, so it’s best to always keep a social distance.
Never Take A Hypochondriac To A Pandemic
From Ronald Wohlman’s New York Corona Diary
The money train
Transnet in court battle with liquidators of Gupta-linked audit firm over R57m in ‘corrupt’ payments and invoices
‘He's no pharmaceutical genius, he's a vulture'
Pharma con seeks prison release to ‘help find Covid cure’
Bush school – A memoir
OUR SCHOOL WAS IN THE MIDDLE of the bush, ten miles from the nearest town in the harsh beauty of the Zimbabwean highveld. It started life in World War II as No 26 EFTS Guinea Fowl, a Royal Air Force elementary flying training school and I arrived there in 1954, just seven years after it became an all-white co-ed state boarding school.
