A last-minute appeal by a Bredell resident to stop the demolition of an illegal building on his land, failed last week.
Ekurhuleni Building Control demolished the unfinished building on Friday and Saturday after obtaining a court order to do so.
The building was situated on Third Avenue on a plot owned by Lukas Janse van Rensburg, from where other businesses also operate. It was apparently also intended for business use.
People on site Friday said the building was not approved by Ekurhuleni and that it was built on a property not zoned for business. They also said the court order was not just for this one building on the property, but others too not used for housing.
Janse van Rensburg said he was in the process of getting the building approved and properly zoned but that the metro did not give him enough time or notice. His wife, Natasha, said they only got notice about the demolition on Wednesday last week.
They lodged an appeal, which was denied on Thursday last week at 6pm.
Natasha said apparently a notice was dropped off at their front gate but they never received it.
Other residents of Third Road and people who worked on the property were unhappy about the matter. Theuns Botha said when they bought their properties on Third Road, they bought it with an understanding that they could build on the land.
Gawie Smith said one paid a fortune to have property on this busy road and that they should be allowed to build.
Residents said they were all in the process of getting their properties rezoned.
Natasha said if Ekurhuleni demolished every building used for business on their property, about 103 people with about 303 dependants would lose their jobs. Smith said almost 90 per cent of Third Avenue was used for business purposes.
Ward councillor Pieter Henning could not comment as he was not sure of the zoning of the property.
The matter has also been referred to the metro for comment.
