Durban - Property owners and body corporates are demanding to know who will pay for the damage to buildings from the settling of soot from Transnet’s warehouse fire.
Large clouds of black smoke billowed across the Durban sky at the weekend and as it descended, left black soot on buildings and cars across the city.
A Durban businessman, who did not want his name published, said his paint company had been inundated with calls from clients asking for advice on how to clean the black residue off their walls.
“We have been snowed under with phone calls. One of the buildings we are working at is costing our client between R300 000 and R400 000 already. We are halfway done with the paintwork and when our team arrived on site yesterday, they found black streaks running down the walls,” he said.
The man said it was harder to clean the surface of a building because it was not smooth.
“There were lots of cars covered in the soot and because cars have a smoother surface, it’s easy to get the residue off. It is a little more difficult with walls. I can only imagine that this is going to be the biggest insurance claim the country has seen,” he said.
The man said the building where he was working was painted two weeks ago. He said it would be difficult to clean the side of the wall because the paint was “still fresh”.
Pointing to another building painted last year, he said a building with an older paint job would be easier to clean because the paint would have settled.
Bill Olivier, a trustee at Jubilee Court in Clarence Road, Greyville, said their three-storey block of flats was painted less than a year ago.
“It cost us about R150 000 to paint the building about nine months ago. This is a shocking indictment and someone must pay. The route for us to go would be to contact our insurance company, but that would mean our premiums would increase,” he said.
Olivier added that this was by far the worst damage he had seen to the building in the 35 years that he had lived at Jubilee Court. The building is one of several Art Deco structures in Durban and is said be about 90 years old.
Mandla Nsele, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, declined to comment on any questions put forward to him by the Daily News.
He said a press conference would be held where concerns would be addressed.
By Monday afternoon, the fire was still burning but was contained. Trevor Stevens, Central Durban Fire acting commander, said: “There are still a few hot spots and it will take a while to put those out, but for now the fire is controlled.”