Johannesburg - The City of Joburg would rather see the Zoo Lake Bowling Club buildings and greens standing empty and vulnerable to vandalisation for the next year than allow it to continue operating while a new lease is being negotiated.
The Joburg Property Company (JPC) has indicated it will proceed with an eviction order on Monday to evict the club even though the new tenant will not be able to occupy the property following a South Gauteng High Court ruling on Friday that the tender awarded by the city and JPC to Kenako Consulting, was awarded unconstitutionally.
The result of the court order is that the city needs to re-run the tender process to lease the premises.
An attorney handling the matter for the club, Gabriel da Matta, said they had offered to enter into a temporary arrangement with the city at the weekend to occupy the premises, subject to paying a market-related rental and maintaining the property and the greens.
“We held meetings with city attorneys at the weekend, undertaking to uphold the eviction order should our tender once again not be successful, but they refused and said we should be out by last night which we did not do,” he said. “We are now going to be forced to appeal the eviction order. We are shocked and disappointed at the waste of ratepayers’ money. A new tender can take up to a year because there are various procedural aspects to the process. It is the view of the bowling club that the city’s refusal to allow the club to stay in occupation of the premises is illogical, because it means that the property will be vacant and the greens will not be maintained, and the city will not be receiving any rent while the new tender may be awarded to the Zoo Lake Bowling Club,” he said.
Da Matta said the appeal papers would be filed on Monday.
City of Joburg spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane confirmed that the JPC would start the eviction process on Monday.
The Star