Jay Singh flouted rules ‘for the people’: pastor
COMMUNITY leaders have expressed disappointment with the eThekwini Municipality for taking “so long” to cut ties with a construction company owned by the wife of developer Jay Singh, which has operated in the Phoenix area for years.
They claim to have been fighting the “unprofessional” developments by Woodglaze Trading, owned by Shireen Annamalay, for at least eight years.
Ward councillors and community leaders told POST that numerous letters written to the city and requests for meetings with various departments had been unsuccessful in that time.
They said the city had never consulted the community on selling off land in the area.
On Monday it emerged the city wants to sever ties with Woodglaze following a string of complaints, including allegations of shoddy workmanship and of flouting town planning regulations and zoning.
The city told POST this week it would establish a task team to “assess the way forward”.
The councillor for ward 50, Lyndal Singh, said she had received many complaints regarding Woodglaze’s conduct.
“They normally used to build without plans, so in October we pushed to see their plans and they had none. Then in February they produced plans and began.
“So if we didn’t push them, they would have started in October without plans.”
Ward 49 councillor Tino Pillay said he had tried several times to meet Singh to discuss the issues, but to no avail.
“We have been fighting for years trying to look for accountability. We have written numerous letters to the city in terms of meeting and resolving the problem.
“We have had complaints of people’s driveways being built over, zoning problems. We want answers.”
Pillay claimed the properties were developed under the guise of housing for the less fortunate, but then would be sold for large sums of money.
A resident who has lived in council housing for nearly 40 years told POST on Monday a property had been developed nearby and put up for sale at R750 000.
A community leader, who did not want to be named, said: “Phoenix has become a concrete jungle. How do sewer pipes and stormwater drains support so many new homes?
“How do we expand the roads with no space?”
He said he had tried in vain to meet with the city about the issue.
“We have been to every office in the municipality; no one wants to take responsibility. All departments say nothing, they just disappear (when you try to meet them).”
In a written response to POST, the city said: “The issues involving Woodglaze emerged during the monitoring of the project, as well as from inspections by the building inspectorate and complaints from the community.”
Jay Singh’s spokesperson, Pastor Mervyn Reddy, said Woodglaze was unapologetic about their operations in Phoenix because it was “for the good of the Indian community”.
“Yes, Jay Singh will admit he flouted things here and there, but he did it for the people. He can stop tomorrow, but what will Phoenix do? Where will they go and buy homes?”
Regarding community members not wanting those properties to be built in Phoenix, he said: “You will always get people who object. But those people are selfish, we are building a home for a family to live in.”
He said Woodglaze had built about 7 000 homes since 2007 in Phoenix.