The developers of the Currie Road highrise that has been at the centre of legal action for the past few years, have been ordered to pay almost R21m to company Nela Kahle for renting scaffolding that still stands on the property to date. The Mercury reports this comes after the KZN High Court (Durban) made a ruling in the matter in favour of Nela Kahle last year.

The building’s developers, Serengeti Rise Industries, sought to appeal against the judgment in the SCA. However, leave to appeal was dismissed with costs last week as the SCA found that there was ‘no reasonable prospect of success’ in the appeal, and that there was no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard.

Last September, the High Court ordered Serengeti Rise Industries to pay Nela Kahle almost R21m for rental of the scaffolding for the period August 2015 to June 2017. The court also ordered the developers to pay interest from August 2015 to the date of full payment.

At issue in the High Court judgment was whether Nela Kahle had the right to bring the matter back to court and claim for rental rates for the scaffolding on the basis of a July 2015 court order.

The High Court found that there was no attempt by Serengeti High Industries to set aside any of the previous orders ‘and as such, they must be considered to be binding’.

‘I am not persuaded that any justifiable grounds have been presented by the respondent (Serengeti) which mitigate against the enforcement of the (July 2015) order. I do not consider the order I made to be ‘impractical, unbusinesslike, leading to oppressive consequences’,’ the judge said.

Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)