Singh sends pastor to take Tongaat residents’ heat

Tongaat residents feel that arrogance and a sense of entitlement led to the death of two construction workers at the Tongaat Mall two weeks ago.
Hundreds of angry residents packed the Tongaat Town Hall on Thursday for a meeting organised by the Tongaat Civic Association (TCA) in the hope of getting answers about the mall collapse on November 19, which killed two and injured 29 construction workers.
The mall was being developed by controversial Durban businessman Jay Singh.
The TCA had invited Singh and the Ethekwini municipality building and planning department to speak to residents but Singh was a no-show, sending his pastor, Mervin Reddy to face the public.
Reddy claims that Singh’s company, Gralio Construction did nothing wrong in the building of the mall and therefore could not accept blame for an “engineering fault”.
“Gralio followed all proper procedures with regards to the preparation and construction of the mall. We cannot understand why everyone is portraying Jay as the bad guy when he had nothing to do with the collapse,” said Reddy.
The company has been previously criticised for shoddy work in two housing projects in Hammond and Burbreeze. It is also named in the Manase report for being awarded two irregular housing contracts.
Ethekwini building inspectorate manager Daniel Pentasaib contested Reddy’s claims, saying Singh only submitted earthworks plans to the municipality, which were refused and never resubmitted.
“Singh also built on over nine metres of the land owned by Transnet, without applying for the relaxation of the building line,” he said.
When residents questioned Reddy about Singh’s blatant disregard of building regulations Reddy replied that if Ethekwini could allow other major projects to proceed without approved plans, private projects should be allowed to do the same.
“They did it with the Dube Tradeport and many of their ‘priority’ projects.”
This statement angered the residents, with Elvis Pillay accusing “the likes of Singh” of thinking they are above the law because they are closely associated with government officials.
Residents also lashed out at ward councillor Michael Abraham, who they say ignored queries by local media regarding the mall’s plans four months ago.
Abraham first insisted he knew nothing about the mall but then admitted to helping Singh hire over 30 people to work at the mall.
DA councillor Brian Jayanathan knew plans were not approved and together with councillor Heinz de Boer has been accused by Singh of plotting his downfall.
Resident Seelan Naidoo said they had been looking forward to the mall but felt it would now be better if the Tongaat Mall was totally demolished.
His sentiments were echoed by Anant Chetty who said Singh’s history of failed projects due to sub-standard work made him believe that the mall would have collapsed eventually.
An investigation into the collapse is currently under way.
For more information on how to help victims of the collapse contact TAC chairman Jeeva Pillay on 084 494 8596.