THE PARTY IS OVER Premier’s office sued for Ballito man’s bid R2.3m entertainment bill to halt mall work
ADURBAN businessman is suing the office of the premier in KwaZuluNatal after he had to close down his Florida Road restaurant because the government failed to pay him for his services.
Nick Dranias, 39, who owned De La Sol, a popular bar and restaurant, has also levelled allegations of corruption and fraud. This includes payments he received being reflected as hotel accommodation.
The incidences relate to about five years ago when Zweli Mkhize was the premier. However, Mkhize has not been implicated in any wrongdoing. Instead, the accusations have been made against the former spokesman for the premier’s office, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, who Dranias met in 2010.
“All of the big hotshot ANC guys used to frequent my venue. One day, I was approached by Ndabenzinhle and he said that he needed my services to plan and host events.
“I have been in the entertainment and events industry for 20 years and have a lot of experience. I saw this as a great opportunity to network, and accepted his offer,” Dranias said.
He organised several events to the tune of just over R3 million. They included:
The ANC’s razzmatazz pre-election campaign in April-May 2011;
The East Coast Radio Durban Day media launch;
The 2011 Aids/Rebirth of Life Concert;
The 2012 Moyo’s Fashion by the Sea event; and
The 2011 Getting to Zero campaign and Metro FM Heatwave.
Dranias said he had been promised payment but did not receive the money. “I contacted Ndabenzinhle and he said that the budgets for the year (2011) had been depleted. I would have to wait for the new budgets.”
However, he still did not receive any money.
Dranias was then told he would be paid from a travel budget via a company called Chanti Travel Agents.
“I received an e-mail from the agent with a voucher for a hotel stay for one night; the cost on the voucher was R114 000. I thought this was an error so I contacted Ndabez- inhle and he said that this was how payments were made, especially when certain departments had excess budgets.
After the initial payment was processed, Dranias received three other payments from Chanti Travel totalling R213 000.
He did not receive the remainder of his money but attempted to claim it by meeting with the chief financial officer, Zipathe Walter Cibane, at the premier’s office, as well as the director general, N V E Ngidi.
“The DG promised me that the matter would be resolved by July last year. It has been more than a year since then, and I have not been paid. I have had to resort to legal action. I have also approached the DA for help,” Dranias said.
According to letters from the premier’s office (which Dranias obtained), Sibiya had failed to follow proper procurement processes. As a result, any payments would have to be done in a manner that did not result in irregular expenditure. For Dranias it is little comfort. “I was a successful business owner. I owned De La Sol for nine years and it was booming. But obviously, in order to keep any business going, one needs income. I battled to pay my rent because I had invested so much into these government events. I didn’t realise that they would let me down this badly.
“Their argument is that I did not sign any contracts. But we had oral agreements and there is proof of the events. I never thought a government entity like the premier’s office would act in such a corrupt matter. I wonder how many other people they have done this to.”
In a summons issued to the premier’s office, Dranias has claimed R2.3m plus interest and legal costs.
According to his attorney, Mike Pedersen, if the money is not forthcoming, the matter will go to trial.
Spokesman for the premier’s office, Thami Ngwenya, confirmed that the summons had been received.
“Mr Dranias has been asked to provide documentary proof of his allegations to address their vagueness and we are still waiting for it.
“The office of the premier, particularly under the leadership of Premier Senzo Mchunu, stands for the protection of the stature of the office and treats any issue that is contrary to this position with all the seriousness it deserves,” said Ngwenya.
When contacted, Sibiya said: “I will comment when the time is right. My turn will come one day.”
The DA’s leader in KwaZuluNatal, Sizwe Mchunu, said the matter was a serious one.
“This is just another example of fraud and corruption within one of the highest bodies in the province. We demand an answer from the premier and a commitment that it will be investigated,” he said.
Attempts to contact Chanti Travel were unsuccessful. A BALLITO resident has gone to court to stop a R1 billion expansion to a local shopping mall because it has affected his property’s value and the access to his home.
Martin Bruce Rencken believes that developers upgrading the Ballito Junction Shopping Mall are doing so without approved plans.
He recently made an urgent plea to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to put the brakes on construction work.
The matter has since been set down for later this week.
There are five respondents, which include the developers, the KwaDukuza Municipality, and the Department of Transport.
Rencken, who is a developer himself, said his home was “up the road” from the mall. He gets to his home by way of a slip road, shared with residents of a neigbouring development. But once the mall expansions are completed, Rencken said access to their homes, via a new “link road”, would be “significantly altered”. Rencken and his neighbours would be required to use the mall entrance, which according to him will be “akin to driving through the Pavilion shopping centre” to get home.
His other concern is that the developers allegedly have not secured the necessary approval from the Department of Transport for the new link road.
“The link road has not been rezoned for it to be used as a public road and significant building is occurring without required approval,” Rencken claimed.
He also said no public meeting was arranged by the Department of Transport and developer to discuss the new road and other relevant issues.
The resident also alleged that the developers had “flagrantly” disregarded two previous “stop work” notices served on them.
Rencken said he had also made requests to the developers for their respective compliance documentation but had not received a response.
He approached the municipality and the Department of Transport for the documents he wanted but got “no joy”, said Rencken.
He alleged that the developers asked the municipality and the Department of Transport not to provide him with the documents in question, and that they complied.
He accused the municipality and the Department of Transport of “turning a blind eye” to the unlawful building work going on.
The estimated cost of the expansion, which would make the mall a “world-class regional shopping destination”, is R1.4 billion. Once completed, Ballito Junction will be six times larger than its original size. The projected completion date is March 2017.
Rencken strongly believes that the new access road would not be approved because of the negative impact it would have for residents of the area.
“The inconvenience of sharing an access road with a major shopping centre will have an adverse effect on my property value,” he said.
He justified the urgency of his application by saying that he didn’t want “a repeat of Currie Road”, where a developer was recently ordered by a high court to tear down a large portion of a multi-storey building being built in Currie Road, on Durban’s Berea, because building regulations had not been followed.
“With each day that passes further building work is being completed and it makes it more difficult to wind back the clock,” Rencken suggested.
The Sunday Tribune approached the developer and the municipality for comment but both declined, saying the matter was before the court.
The Department of Transport promised a response but the Tribune had not received it at the time of going to print.