By Tebogo Monama

On Monday the lower level of the Rosebank Mall was flooded after a pipe burst.

Mall tenants are unhappy about the plumbing and worried now that the rainy season has started.

One of the stores that was flooded was the Health Shoppe.

The store's Zandi Mazibuko said: "I heard a sound like a gunshot. When I heard it a second time I went out to investigate and there was water everywhere.

"We have stock that we put outside the shop and all of that was damaged. When we tried to close the doors it was too late."

Health Shoppe manager Chris White said: "The wooden floor is damaged and it has to be completely replaced. We also lost three days of trading.

"It is the first time this has happened in our shop but I know every time it rains some shops get flooded."

He said the mall had promised to reimburse them for the damaged goods.

Conan Lomas of Erin's Optometrist said: "This is what happens every time it rains. My shop started flooding in April. We could not trade for 11 working days. That was the worst month in our six years here."

The optometrist will move to the Zone in November.

"We were quite happy here but I have equipment that I do not want damaged by water leaks."

Rosebank Mall general manager Leila Daya said a malfunction had been experienced in the overhead fire hydrant system.

"There was no flooding. It looked like a lot of water but it was contained within 20 minutes," she said.

"The building is old - at least 33 years old - but there is nothing wrong with it."

But former tenant Barry Korb disagrees. He used to own the Grillhouse in the mall.

"I moved into the premises in 2006 in good faith. I could smell dampness and when I told them they said the previous owners had not wanted to repair the pipes. They promised they would repair them.

"I spent about R3,5million doing up the shop but every time it rained my store was flooded. I brought in an engineer and he said the pipes were corroded."

Daya claimed Korb did not pay rent and was evicted.

"She's a liar. That is a bloody lie. In February 2009 we had an agreement that the shop should be fixed and they did not even have the decency to pitch up," he said.

"On the advice of my lawyers I stopped paying rent until they fixed the problem. They destroyed me," he said.

Source: Sowetan