Neighbour tussles with pre-school
Van Tonder listed all his concerns about the school, labelling some of the alleged defects as a ticking time bomb.
A local crèche has been taken to task by a resident who accuses it of operating on a property without building approval.
The complainant, Johan van Tonder, a neighbour of the pre-school known to the Northsider, said that he has been fighting with the City of Johannesburg about compliance issues for many years. He said he fears for the safety of the children on the property, which he claims hasn’t been approved for that purpose and is without an occupation certificate.
Van Tonder listed all his concerns about the school, labelling some of the alleged defects as a ‘ticking time bomb’.
He initially accused the school of illegally erecting Wendy houses, which were used as classrooms and toilets. The school demolished them fours years later and agreed to build new, approved classrooms, according to its director, Chelsea De Oliveira.
However, Van Tonder was unhappy with the fine imposed on the pre-school. “I have an invoice for a recent fine of only R1000 levied by the municipality for four years of illegal occupation,” he said. “Surely it should be R1 000 per month?” he asked.
He also discussed problems with the property’s wall, which is apparently on the brink of collapse. “The prefab wall between our properties was only recently made safe by digging away the fill against it. The road-facing garden wall is about to collapse in some places, the cracks linked with a piece of angle iron are reappearing, and the whole wall is still without expansion joints.”
He went on to list defects in the building. “The glass in this building has to be replaced with safety glass compliant with the new code for public buildings. Imagine glass from the top storey breaking and coming down on the children below.
“The biggest concern regarding the safety of the children and occupants is the retaining wall of the carport which was used to enclose an area for toilets and a pantry. This wall was constructed to over 2,4 metres high and since it has no horizontal damp-proof course as per the building regulations, the structure is weakened,” he continued.
Chelsea responded to the allegations, saying, “I have built two classrooms on my premises and have approved building plans for these classrooms from the Braamfontein Development and Planning office, dated 16 August 2018”.
She added that construction on her premises was completed three weeks ago.
“Paving and a refuse area are left to be built, and Building Control and the Health Department are aware of this. My building consent was given in 2017. I have a copy of this document if you would like to view it,” she explained.
The Northsider was provided with copies of the document and the building plans. Chelsea said she is waiting for the approval certificate.
The City’s Development Planning Department was approached to comment on the matter.
Poppy Louw, the stakeholder manager said, “The property was granted consent for a place of instruction (crèche) by the Municipal Planning Tribunal in 2017. There is also an approved site development plan in terms of the conditions of the consent.”
Dilapidated infrastructures in schools have been cast into the spotlight following the deadlyHoërskool Driehoek tragedy in the Vaal Triangle on 1 February.
Tell us what you think about this issue by sending an email to roodepoortnorthsider@caxton.co.za.
