Durban 'monstrosity' won't be knocked down but will go under the hammer

The sale by public auction of a controversial apartment building on Durban’s Berea will go ahead on Wednesday.

This was confirmed by Kurt Knoop, the liquidator of Serengeti Rise Industries, which developed the party-completed nine-story building at 317 Currie Road.

Civic action group Save Our Berea (SOB) attempted to interdict the sale, arguing that it should not proceed pending a further hearing into whether the building should be demolished.

Durban high court judge Graham Lopes ruled that SOB had no legal standing to stay the sale.

Knoop said he could not say how many bidders had registered for the auction but five interested parties had viewed the property this week.

In his court papers opposing the interdict, he assured that all bidders would be informed of pending litigation at the start of the auction.

There would be no “innocent purchasers”, he said.

He said if the court gave SOB the go-ahead for a review of the rezoning and plan approval procedures, “such a right does not translate to a right preventing a change of ownership of the property nor suspend or stop the liquidation process”, which would prejudice creditors of Serengeti.

SOB will now proceed with the main application in which it seeks wide-ranging relief, including the demolition of the building which, it claims, was erected through “fraud, corruption and collusion”, in the rezoning and plan approval process. A date for this will be set once all parties, including the eThekwini municipality, have filed papers.

In previous litigation over the building, which has been labelled a “monstrosity”, neighbours secured a demolition order in the Durban high court. But this was overturned on appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The auction will take place via Zoom at 11am.

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