Durban - The Tongaat shopping mall, which partially collapsed, killing two people two years ago, is to be rebuilt.
Developers who have bought the mall from the original developer, Rectangle Property Investments, say some of the existing structures would have to be demolished.
The R208 million mall project came to a halt after a portion of the building under construction collapsed in November 2013.
Rectangle Property’s sole director is businessman Jay Singh’s son, Ravi Jagadasan.
Construction was being carried out by Gralio Precast, a company which lists Jagadasan and Singh’s ex-wife, Shireen Annamalay, as directors.
A labour department commission of inquiry, which ended earlier this year, was established to determine whether negligence led to the collapse.
The inquiry heard there had been a flouting of labour regulations. Court orders to stop work at the site had also been ignored. Issues of shoddy workmanship, poor concrete strength and poor construction methods had also been raised.
The commission’s report had been forwarded to the National Prosecuting Authority to determine whether anyone should be prosecuted. A decision has not yet been made.
On Tuesday it emerged in court papers that Rectangle Property had signed a sale of property agreement for the mall with property developers Keystone Investments.
Keystone was the developer for the Arbour Crossing and Galleria shopping centres south of Durban.
The court papers relate to an application brought by the company, Extra Air, which had been contracted by Rectangle to supply and install air-conditioning at the Tongaat mall prior to its collapse.
The company was suing Rectangle for R760 000 in damages as they said Rectangle was not proceeding with the project, which constituted a repudiation of the contract.
But Rectangle is opposing the action and in an affidavit, Jagadasan said that last June, an agreement to sell the mall had been made with Keystone and Richter van Niekerk Properties.
He said Keystone was in the process of taking transfer of the mall and had signed an agreement with Rectangle and Extra Air regarding the installation of the air-conditioning at the mall.
He said the agreement had been made on the same terms of the initial contract for the air-conditioning and had been suspended pending the transfer of the property to Keystone.
Keystone Investments’ chief executive Holger Peens confirmed on Tuesday that there was an agreement for the purchase of the property subject to certain conditions.
He said the company would develop a mall on the site and some of the existing building’s structures would be demolished and further construction would have to take place.
He said the site was still under the control of the labour department and no construction could start until it had been released and approval processes had been completed.
The Mercury