Judgement due on Currie Road ‘monstrosity’

AFTER a long protracted legal battle, the 'David versus Goliath' confrontation over the development at 317 Currie Road will get a final decision on 1 November in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

According to Kevin Dunkley from Save Our Berea, this is an incredibly important case for the ratepayers of the city.

“The case is important as confirmation of the previous decision by Judge Steyn in the high court will send a strong signal that one developer assisted by the municipality cannot put greed and profit before the interests of the majority of citizens in the area. It was a horrendous decision by the municipality and we are all hoping that the courts will send a message that this type of activity should not be tolerated,” he said.

In light of the upcoming court date, ward councillor Martin Meyer said he and councillor Christopher Pappas had put together a motion to present to Council last week, taking into consideration the judgement in the Durban High Court on 29 July 2015 by Judge Esther Steyn who not only proposed the demolition of 317 Currie Road, but also found eThekwini Municipality partly responsible. Meyer said the motion also took into consideration that the city could be held financially liable for the demolition.

Meyer was however informed in writing the day before, that the motion was not going to be allowed.

“The speaker cited the 'sub judice rule', the old trick by the ANC when they don't want to debate something. This is, as usual, a wrong implementation of this rule as the case has already been heard in court and is now at the courts of appeal where no new evidence is allowed. Everything said in the court case is thus already in the public domain,” said Meyer.

Meyer and Pappas' motion asked for an Independent Committee of Enquiry consisting of the relevant experts in the field of city planning and law, to investigate how the city had found itself in this situation, and to make recommendations to deal with such applications in the future. Meyer said this request would have had no impact on any court case.

“Furthermore we are asking that a report by the city’s Integrity and Investigations department that was commissioned by the city be released. This is a public document, paid for by the residents of the city into matters affecting the residents of the city. The city cannot withhold this document. I hoped that under the new speaker we would have more transparency in the city, but clearly we are just going to continue in the same course where the city goes out of its way to hide the truth,” he said.

On 1 November, judges of the Bloemfontein court will decide whether to uphold Steyn's judgement to demolish the nine-storey 'monstrosity' building. In this case, Steyn found that public notice rules and rezoning of the building was unlawful. The developer is appealing her ruling, as it argues it had municipal approval for the rezoning of the site, however the municipality later admitted neighbours had not been given proper notice of the intended rezoning from general residential one (a four-storey development) to general residential five. The municipality did, however, disagree with the ruling to demolish the building.