THE Du Plessis family believe the boundary wall outside their Kloof home would have withstood the test of time. It is alleged the wall’s foundation was compromised during a building project along Pioneer Road.
“The wall was built in 1892 along with our home,” said Chantel Du Plessis.
She noted the wall had collapsed during the last heavy rain in December last year. The contractors of the road upgrade, Esor, upgraded and widened Pioneer Road.
“During the construction of the sidewalk, the builders cut away the land, right up to and against the wall. They dug about 20cm below the foundation of the wall,” said Du Plessis.
“The moment we noticed the wall had collapsed, we contacted Esor and were told a contractor would come through and do an inspection.”
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In January another section of the wall fell and the company was contacted again.
“We are now worried the entire wall will fall down, leaving the trees and their roots exposed and then our boundary wall just behind that may collapse as well, let alone the safety of pedestrians,” said Du Plessis.
Esor Construction’s CEO, Wessel van Zyl, responds:
“The wall that collapsed is an old, historic wall that doesn’t form part of this gent’s boundary. The assessor looked at the wall to determine if Esor had any liability. He’s quite clear that the wall failed due to the fact that the wall had no foundation, and was already leaning out due to material behind the wall, and exacerbated by the heavy rains last November. The removal of the material in front of the wall has very little bearing on the failure, and is done in accordance with our scope of work. He has been advised that he needs to contact eThekwini to resolve this.”
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