Developer Tongaat-Hulett under fire for blatantly using another firm’s plans.
DID TONGAAT-HULETT’S PROPERTY arm steal architectural draw-ings which were then used to raise capital from the Depart-ment of Trade and Industry for a luxury property development, from a trusting small consortium of KwaZulu-Natal businessmen?
If so, it fits neatly with the ugly truth about corporate South Africa’s tendency to steal ideas from small businesses. Noseweek has carried many such stories, from the “Please Call Me” vs Vodacom scandal (nose200), to Standard Bank being accused of clandestinely copying keypad software (nose204) to Foschini Group copying a unique bread-bin design and when caught, offering a paltry R30,000 to the Cape Town-based kitchen design studio (nose214).
Ballito-based Sugarland Resorts and Development (Pty) Ltd is convinced KwaZulu-Natal’s largest private property owner and developer, Tongaat-Hulett Developments (Pty) Ltd, used their intellectual property to sell a luxury estate plan to both local and national government, and convince Kuwaiti-based hotel developers, IFA, to come on board, to construct Zimbali Lakes, a R10-billion project on KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast.
The Zimbali franchise just outside Ballito is synonymous with luxury gated estate living, with its luxury private mansions and hotel often used as quiet getaways by the rich and famous. Former AU chairperson Nkosazana DlaminiZuma has a home in the estate while Robert Mugabe’s family are said to have stayed there too.
This story is from the February 2019 edition of Noseweek.
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This story is from the February 2019 edition of Noseweek.
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