Order to demolish wall granted
"The order now is with the sheriff of the court and has to be issued to the neighbour."
The order for the wall to be knocked down has been granted. According to City of Mbombela spokesman Joseph Ngala, the case to demolish the wall between neighbours in Sonheuwel was heard in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on March 6.
“The order now is with the sheriff of the court and has to be issued to the neighbour.”
The massive structure has been increasing in size since March last year. Anna-Marie Fitzgerald said she had gone on holiday and came back to find the wall along the back of her garden had increased in size. “My neighbour kept on building.
By July I reported it to the building inspector, as I was worried about the safety of my children. But he has continued building and he does not seem to be stopping.”
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Nelspruit Post went to investigate and discovered that builders were still building onto the wall, which was over six metres high. The wall also did not have support or vertical movement joints. Some of the bricks could be seen crumbling under the weight of the structure.
Fitzgerald said she felt frustrated as it was just a matter of time before someone got injured or her property was damaged.
“Also, this has an influence on the value of my property. Who would want to look at this prison wall? We normally sit outside on weekends, and now we stare at this monstrosity in our back garden.”
Mbombela’s municipal building inspector, Nomi Shiba, said she was also at a loss with the neighbour, Nathi Sambo. She had continuously issued warnings and legal notices for him to stop building, which he ignored.
“He also did not give us the engineering certificate and approval plan for this wall.”
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