Dispute delays Woolworths opening indefinitely

Much excitement has greeted the opening of the New Salt Rock City shopping centre, but one piece is still missing from the puzzle.

Shoppers are disappointed that the new Woolworths store has still not opened, apparently due to the store not having an occupancy certificate from KwaDukuza Municipality.

Woolworths’ corporate press office told the Courier this week that the application for occupancy certificates is done by the developer, stating: “Woolworths is not involved in this process nor have we been engaging with council in this regard.”

Disagreements between KDM and the developer of the new centre have been ongoing for years, with the developer referring to KDM as a “mafia” earlier this year while the municipality in turn called him “a habitual liar”.

Also read: Salt Rock centre dispute turns ugly

“If the municipality behaved with the public interest at heart, this centre could have been open a year ago already,” developer Frikkie Lutzkie told the Courier.

“We have spent approximately R250 million to get this centre up and running, creating about 300 jobs in the process.”

Woolworths’ said they were not involved in the application nor dispute between the developer and the municipality, therefore did not know when the occupancy certificates would be issued.

“All perishable produce was moved to surrounding stores when we became aware of the problem regarding the occupancy certificates. Unfortunately there is an unavoidable percentage of product that will be wasted, however we will continue to move products out of the store in order to minimize this waste.”

Lutzkie previously told the Courier they have had difficulties obtaining approval for plans, getting occupancy certificates and more out of KDM, claiming the reason they would not approve these things was because they had not “bribed the correct officials”.

KDM on the other hand, claims they did not receive applications for certain occupancy certificates and that correct procedures were not followed when applying for approval for building and site plans.

Also read: Going nowhere slowly on Salt Rock Road

“It would be irresponsible for any municipality to grant an occupation certificate when it did not receive any application. It is common cause that the developer did not apply for an occupation certificate but instead went to court lying that it had applied,” said KDM media liaison Sipho Mkhize.

“One of the key issue of dispute related to the occupation certificate, is that the developer has built more than what was approved by council.”

Mkhize was referring to the fact that KDM had originally approved a development of 5803 square metres, while the finished centre is 9200 sq m.

Lutzkie said they had informed the municipality in the change of size.

“The developer is trying to paint KDM as not supporting development and not wanting to issue occupancy certificates to the tenants. This is not true, the certificates have to be issued to the developer, who constructed a larger building than had been approved.”

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