Holiday Resorts Remain Undemolished

January 1 - It is expected that authorities will start tearing down holiday resorts built in iSmiangaliso Wetlands Park after the developers of the properties refused to carry out a court order to do so themselves.

Durban's High Court ordered the developers to demolish the resorts that were built on a World Heritage Site in KwaZulu Natal.

The court said that the resorts were built in a protected area and were therefore considered illegal.

Four developers in total, Simon Tembe, Mkawu Mthembu, Madolwane Mthembu and Cecil Henry Berkhout, were all given the demolition orders by the High Court.

The court also said that if the four did not start the demolition process by today, January 1st, 2010, authorities would begin the work and the cost of restoring damaged bush could be charged to the developers.

Simon Tembe said after the ruling on December 23 that he would not go through with the demolition himself, and threatened to mobilize the local community against officials who came to destroy the holiday resorts.

"We believe that the court was wrong to rule against us," he said. "We followed all the relevant channels before we started building, We will continue to fight because we have spent over R3 million."

When questioned about the permission that they had received to build the resorts, Tembe mentioned that he had received the green light from the local traditional leader (induna), as well as a local magistrate.

The wetlands park is situated 275 km from Durban and is South Africa's third largest protected area.

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1/1/2010 6:53:03 AM