By Sibongile Mkani

A millionare property investor is heading for a collision course with Buffalo City Municipality after he ignored direct orders to stop building construction work on his Seaview Terrace premises on the beachfront this week.

Brian Redding, the owner of Zensa H’otel & Spa continues to defy the municipal order, which was hand-delivered to him on Wednesday .

Redding bought Cape To Cairo, which overlooks the beach front on Seaview Terrace, last year.

He is now turning the premises into a hotel and four restaurants, as well as a beauty spa.

“F**k, I can do whatever I like, I am a British architect myself.

"I know what I am doing,” Redding said.

A letter addressed to Redding from BCM’s Directorate of Building and Planning – written by a building inspector who visited the premises early this week – clearly states that work has to be stopped.

The letter said Redding was building without council approved plans, meaning he first needed to submit the plans to council and wait for approval before he could start with the construction work.

It further stated that he is to immediately cease all the construction work, be in possession of council approved plans within a month or demolish the unauthorised structure.

If he failed to do this, he would be taken to court.

The 72-year-old, an eccentric Scottish multimillionaire, brushed off the contents of the letter, saying they were just red tape.

Redding said when he started with the renovations he had no idea he was doing anything wrong.

“According to my knowledge of the law, you do not need to get permission from the municipality to do renovations on the inside of your house and that is what I did,” Redding said.

He told the building inspector he would have the plans by noon on Thursday but the inspector “betrayed” him and sent the papers with somebody else on Wednesday, a day before their arranged appointment, Redding said.

He said he was worried about his 40 employees, who would be affected by the inconvenience if the problem was not solved sooner.

“My lawyers are sorting this thing out with the municipality, and if they (BCM) piss me around I will pull my investment out and they can call another idiot to invest here,” he said.

Buffalo City spokesperson Sam Ngwenya said action would be taken against Redding if he was found not to be in compliance.

“It is advisable for the gentleman to co-operate and comply with the laws, rules and regulations of the city,” Ngwenya said.

Redding’s neighbours are also complaining about the noise from a big screen TV, which was meant to air the fight of Mdantsane boxer Ali Funeka over the weekend.

Wianda Meyer said she hoped BCM could help with the noise.

“He has no respect or regard for us and he plays that loud TV throughout the night and early in the morning,” Meyer said.

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the neighbourhood was very angry at Redding’s disregard for them.

“He plays loud music ... and you can barely hear yourselves speaking in your own home,” the neighbour said.

Source: Daily Dispatch