If no consequences for breaking rules . . .

One line in your article “Reprieve for PLG School” (Courier, February 13) caught my eye “However, going ahead and opening on January 21 without the necessary consent paid off for the school . . .”
I find it sad that blatantly breaking rules can ever result in a “pay off” per se. This breaking of the rules in the property world resulting in a “pay off” is all too common and definitely not only in Ballito. Shopping centres being built without approvals, offices opening without occupation certificates, properties being zoned for warehouses being operated as fully-fledged retail outlets etc. etc. The problem is if there is no consequence to breaking a rule then a dishonest person will break a rule.
The rule in this case is simple: in order to operate as a school you have to have special consent and/or an occupational certificate authorizing the use of the premises as a school. You can’t just start a school in an office park. Surely these people from PLG knew that? From the outside looking in it seems like the people from PLG, without the consent to operate as a school, have employed teachers who have had to resign from their previous jobs and have enrolled students that have now lost their places in the schools they have left.
It would seem wrong to close the school down with immediate effect as the biggest sufferers would be the teachers and kids, but it does seem wrong that the wrongdoers are not more severely punished. I am not even sure whether the courts will have the courage to close the school down in 12 months time. The PLG school is essentially blackmailing the council and the town of Ballito into granting them the consents they require by holding the children and teachers as ransom. It is as simple as that. If all the kids and teachers found new schools for 2016 then the council could easily enforce the interdict against the school, restraining it from operating as a school, boarding or recreational facility at their current property in Nandi Mthembu Drive, if special consent is not granted by KDM.
I am not convinced this could have been avoided. If PLG were comfortable advertising and marketing a school that they did not yet have consent to open and if they were comfortable employing teachers and enrolling scholars prior to getting the consent to even exist as a school then I do not see what council could have done to prevent the situation that our town now finds itself in. As I said, if there are no consequences for breaking rules then dishonest people break them!
BRIAN ROBERTS
Ballito