DURBAN - Property tycoon Niemesh Singh is prepared to fight the Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate in the highest court should they appeal against a landmark high court judgment against gated estates.
On Friday, Singh successfully contested the “draconian rules”, including restrictions placed on the movement of domestic workers at the swish estate, in court this week. He said he was prepared for the “journey against arrogance”.
Residents were fined when their domestic workers were found walking on the pristine pathways, or when motorists failed to adhere to the 40km/h speed limit when driving on the estate’s roads.
Singh challenged those rules with court action in 2014 but acting Durban High Court Judge Ian Topping dismissed his application last year. Singh appealed against the decision and secured a landmark ruling regarding gated community living when a full bench, of Judges Rishi Seegobin, Mahendra Chetty and Pieter Bezhuidenhout at the Pietermaritzburg High Court, upheld his appeal.
Read:
Singh said the court decision was a victory against “arrogant” estate directors and employees and helped to restore the dignity of domestic workers.
“They should not be treated like herds of animals that need to be controlled in and out of any estate.”
He said, should the estate decide to appeal in the Constitutional Court or Supreme Court of Appeal, he was prepared for the fight.
According to the estate’s rules handbook, domestic employees were only allowed to walk through the streets when the in-house shuttle service was unavailable. If they were found to transgress this rule, homeowners were liable to pay a fine. Singh believed that such a rule severely reduced the dignity of domestic workers.
Challenge decision
Lizelle Paola, the attorney representing the estate, said management was still studying the judgment and would make a decision soon.
However, the president of the Association of Residential Communities, Jeff Gilmour, said they would challenge the judgment, as it had implications for other estates.
DA KZN leader Zwakele Mncwango said he found the court judgment “a bit strange” because it was a resident’s choice to live in the estate: “Estates have rules that need to be obeyed but we respect the judgment. A resident joins the estate willingly, while knowing there are certain rules to be adhered to. But the estate shall also be governed by municipal bylaws.”
IFP chairperson Blessed Gwala commended the judges. He said the judgment has taught the estate owners a lesson to never implement rules that were against the Constitution. “They should have been charged for transgressing the constitution. Although we are concerned with safety in our homes, estates should not manufacture their own laws to run parallel with by-laws set by municipalities.”
Singh argued that the traffic control system at the estate should be in accordance with the National Road Traffic Authority Act. He said only this could grant the estate permissions regarding traffic control on public roads.
When Judge Seegobin read the court’s decision, he said the estate, dubbed “Pleasantville”, did not have the power to control public roads because they had no authorisation from the Department of Transport or the eThekwini Municipality to impose such rules.
The judges ordered that the rules regarding speeding be suspended for 12 months, in which time the estate was ordered to obtain the necessary authorisation.
About the “repressive” restrictions placed on domestic workers’ freedom of movement at the estate, Seegobin said the situation was akin to apartheid-era legislation.
He added: “In my view, courts will be failing their duties were they to overlook or condone flagrant and deliberate contraventions of statutory provisions. In fact, there are other associations or estates in the country that ... have seen fit not to comply with statutory provisions. It’s time they did.”