{"id":9473,"date":"2012-03-30T15:40:40","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T13:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/03\/court-victory-for-anant-singh\/"},"modified":"2012-03-30T15:40:40","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T13:40:40","slug":"court-victory-for-anant-singh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/court-victory-for-anant-singh\/","title":{"rendered":"Court victory for Anant Singh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \t                                <!-- Main Editorial Image --><br \/>\n                    \t\t\t      \t\t\t                                      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/d6d00_498362646.jpg\" alt=\"NM Sunny3 (24260987)\" class=\"pics\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"captions_credit_article\">INLSA<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">DURBAN: 290312<br \/>\nSunny Gayadin is willing to pay 250 million Rands for the Natal Command land that was sold to Anand Singh for 15 million Rands by the Ethekwini Municipality.<br \/>\nPICTURE: GCINA NDWALANE<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">\n<p class=\"related_articles\">Related Stories<\/p>\n<ul class=\"menu_tab_lists_related\">\n<li><a class=\"related_articles\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za:80\/mercury\/durban-landmark-stripped-and-soiled-1.1267013\">Durban landmark stripped and soiled<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--PSTYLE=WT Web Text--><\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Movie maker Anant Singh\u2019s controversial film studio plan for the prime Natal Command site on Durban\u2019s beachfront was back on the cards yesterday after a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">But any hope of its being a final resolution in the dispute was dashed when Sunny Gayadin, the man who launched the legal challenge to the R15-million deal that the city signed with Singh eight years ago, said he would now take his fight to the Constitutional Court. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI am not Father Christmas. Yes, I am a businessman. But I am also doing it for the ratepayers of this city,\u201d he said. \u201cI will not back down because that deal was not kosher.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Informed of the possibility of a further court challenge, Singh told The Mercury: \u201cWe feel good that the appeal court has endorsed our position and our rights. We respect the rule of law and the courts and whatever needs to happen must happen.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cWe are absolutely committed to this project. That is the reason we have fought for it, and we now look forward to working with the city and provincial authorities to map a way forward with respect to the plans for the property and the special zoning required.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Asked whether the city was still keen on the project, Speaker Logie Naidoo said: \u201cSo much has happened since this started\u2026 Cape Town has built up its own film industry.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI am not sure what the thinking is now in the executive committee or the administration. We need to sit down and look at what is in the agreement and see if we are still committed to it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cWe would not be able to sign a deal like this today, not with the Municipal Finance Management Act,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">In 2003, the city sold the property \u2013 said to be worth about R71m at the time \u2013 to Singh by private treaty after he promised to build a R700m film studio that would boost the local economy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gayadin, who owns concert organiser Giant Concerts, was outraged at the deal and sought a review of the decision.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Two years ago, he was victorious when Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Jerome Mnguni described the sale process as \u201ccontaminated\u201d and ordered the city and the MEC for local government, who approved the deal, to reverse the sale. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Singh, with the blessing of the eThekwini municipality but without its active support, took the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal, which yesterday ruled on the \u201csingle, decisive\u201d issue that Gayadin did not have legal standing to bring the application. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Acting Judge Clive Plasket, with four judges of appeal concurring, said Giant Concerts had litigated in its own interests. But with its registered address in Pietermaritzburg, it did not have \u201cratepayer standing\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The judges ruled that only those who had an interest in the \u201cinterests of the borough\u201d could object to a sale by private treaty and they likened Giant Concerts to a \u201cratepayer in Johannesburg, or a businessman in Cape Town\u201d who would have no interest in the matter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">They pointed out that Giant Concerts had launched the application in its own commercial interests, not as a challenge to the principle of the sale by public treaty but on the basis that the site should have been sold to it, instead of to Singh. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">They said their decision did not mean that the municipality was above the law or that if the sale was tainted it should not be reviewable, just that \u201cthis is not the right person in the right proceedings\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">A senior lawyer in Durban, who did not wish to be named, said that in essence, the ruling meant that Singh had an enforceable contract with the city. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cBut the fact that the SCA (the appeal court) did not deal with the merits means a Constitutional Court challenge is probably the best way forward because the deal remains tainted in the public eye.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gayadin, who still refuses to disclose what his plans are for the 21ha site, but says he will pay the city R250 million for it, said he and his wife, members of Giant Concerts, owned about 30 properties in Durban and were ratepayers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThis issue, that I had to be a ratepayer, was never raised by the other side (Singh), or by the municipality, so I think the judges have erred,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI cannot let this matter lie. I have been approached by many people who want to join in, and I believe that ratepayer associations and even opposition parties will join me in this appeal. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThe ratepayers are being kicked in the teeth. Judge Mnguni gave eight valid reasons why the sale was bad and the appeal court did not deal with any of them. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI want the Constitutional Court to look at the entire issue,\u201d Gayadin said.\t<strong>8<\/strong>P4 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INLSA DURBAN: 290312 Sunny Gayadin is willing to pay 250 million Rands for the Natal Command land that was sold to Anand Singh for 15 million Rands by the Ethekwini Municipality. PICTURE: GCINA NDWALANE Related Stories Durban landmark stripped and soiled Movie maker Anant Singh\u2019s controversial film studio plan for the prime Natal Command site [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-9473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}