Durban - “There is no danger to members of the public or any other persons in relation to this project.”
This was stated under oath by the developer of the Tongaat shopping mall when trying to bat off the city’s attempts to stop construction, which he labelled “an abuse of the court process”.
“Its work is supervised by duly qualified structural and civil engineer (sic) together with an entire professional team,” Ravi Jagadasan, the sole member of Rectangle Property Investments cc, said in his affidavit filed in the Durban High Court, in which he “strenuously opposed” what eventually became a successful - albeit ineffectual - interdict application by the eThekwini Municipality.
The court papers give an insight into how Jagadasan, the son of controversial businessman Jay Singh, cocked a snook at the city from March, ignoring a stop work notice, brushing off summonses, sending stalling legal letters and ignoring an interim order granted at the end of September and then a final order granted last week, both ordering work to stop immediately.
Through it all, construction continued unabated - as documented by photographs in the court file - because he was in a rush to finish the R208 million development by early next year to avoid construction cost increases and potential penalties of R103 000 a day from tenants.
“What if the building collapses?” Judge Gregory Kruger reportedly asked an advocate representing Rectangle Property during argument in the opposed application.
It was a concern raised several times by city officials.
“No building plans have been submitted at all… the city has no knowledge if structures are being constructed in accordance with accepted building standards and safety standards or whether they are a danger to members of the public,” the city’s adviser, Siyabulela Mfingwana, said in his affidavit.
According to Mfingwana, building inspector Cyril Dube first noticed excavation taking place on the site in March.
He investigated and found that there were no approved building plans, only an earthworks plan submitted in February which had been refused.
In April he served a stop work notice on a “Reggie Pillay” who was on site and who said he was the architect.
When work continued, summonses with admission-of-guilt fines were served in May on a “Ronny Pillay”, who said he was an “artisan”, and “foreman” Rajan Haripersad. These were paid but had little effect.
In July, the city’s lawyers wrote to Rectangle Property - a letter delivered at its registered address by an enforcement officer – warning about its “blatant contraventions” of the law and threatening legal action.
The company, through its lawyer Kershnie Govender, asked for two weeks to respond.
Two weeks passed - and building continued - and the city launched its urgent application.
Jagadasan, in his opposing affidavit, claimed there was no urgency “because the city on its own version has been fully aware of construction on site since March”.
He claimed he had approval for the earthworks and, because he was developing a R208m shopping mall which was beneficial to the community, he had “fast-track privilege” to proceed with construction after “approval of plans at pre-scrutiny stage” which happened all the time with big developments in the city.
He said detailed “reports and plans” had been submitted by his professional team to various “line departments” and, in essence, this meant the city had approved the plans.
He denied knowledge of the earthwork plan refusal, or the contravention notice saying: “Mr Pillay cannot recall receiving the letter and, if he did sign for it, he had no authority to act as our agent.” He denied knowledge of the summonses.
He admitted that construction associated with the “two lower ground floors” was taking place “under the strict supervision of our civil structural engineer”, saying completion by January was of “paramount importance” so that the mall could open for business in March.
But in response the city knocked several holes in his argument, exposing some half-truths and blatant lies.
Mfingwana said the only approval the development had was from the land use department which had sanctioned the development from a town planning point of view.
But he was adamant that no building plan had ever been submitted, let alone approved.
Regarding the stop work notice handed to the architect, he put up proof of its delivery and a letter from the company confirming that Pillay had been “appointed as proxy to sign all necessary documentation pertaining to the submission of plans”.
He also put up proof that Pillay had signed for the earthworks plan refusal and that the admission-of-guilt fines had been paid.
Mfingwana said there was no such thing as a “fast-track” process in the city and nobody was entitled to build without an approved plan.
In terms of the interim order granted by Judge Kruger, the company had to immediately stop building but had until Thursday last week to come back to court to say why the order should not be made final.
The company’s lawyer indicated in a letter that he would not come to court to oppose the order’s being made final “because the interim order had the effect of final relief anyway”.
Police spokeswoman Mandy Govender confirmed on Wednesday that “a case of culpable homicide has been opened by police”, but added that investigations are still ongoing and she could not say who would be charged.
The Mercury