Chantelle Benjamin

Insurer SA Eagle is demanding the Johannesburg City Council repay it R30m, claiming the council was negligent in allowing the Wanderers Club to burn to the ground in 2004.

Johannesburg Metro Editor

INSURER SA Eagle is demanding the Johannesburg City Council repay it R30m, claiming the council was negligent in allowing the Wanderers Club to burn to the ground in 2004.

After the Wanderers blaze in September 2004, SA Eagle forked out R30m to repair the 70-year-old clubhouse in Johannesburg's northern suburbs. But this week, SA Eagle issued a letter of demand to the council, saying there was negligence on the part of the city and that the city had to repay the money.

Council sources said the action could stem from reports that a fire in the roof, which had not been properly extinguished, started up again later, suggesting inspection of the scene was insufficient.

Concern has been raised about the lack of inspectors for the city's emergency management services department, with only eight inspectors for the City of Johannesburg, instead of the required 35.

This has come after nearly four years of dire predictions by members of the council's public safety committee, who have warned that understaffing, an insufficient budget and a lack of proper management in emergency services could lead to a serious incident for which the city would be accountable.

If the matter goes to court and SA Eagle wins, it could set a precedent for other insurers unhappy with the service they have received from emergency services generally.

Malini Merkofer-Naidoo, group marketing manager of SA Eagle, confirmed yesterday that a letter of demand had been sent to council for "recovery of damages paid out for the rebuilding of the Wanderers clubhouse".
Merkofer-Naidoo would not elaborate on the grounds for her company's action, saying it was now part of a legal process.

The Johannesburg City Council had not responded by late yesterday to requests for comment.

A report by emergency services to the public safety committee after the fire admitted that the fire engines were not properly manned, with only three people on the first engine that arrived at the scene, instead of the required four. The second engine also only had three people and one engine only had one person.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has raised concern about the fact that the Rosebank fire station was closed for refurbishment at the time of the fire and resources moved to Roosevelt Park - although the Rosebank Firs shopping centre had offered to house the vehicles in its car park while the station was being refurbished.

"Once again the ratepayers of Johannesburg will probably end up opening their wallets and coughing up because of management disasters that have affected emergency services at the time," the DA's spokesman on emergency management services, Darren Bergman, said.

A report released a month after the Wanderers fire by emergency management services chief Audrey Gule to the council's public safety committee admitted Johannesburg's response times lagged behind that of the rest of the province.

The September 29 fire at the Wanderers was said to have started in the kitchen. The blaze destroyed half the building, including the Chariots pub, the main hall, the kitchen as well as the historic clock tower. The club has recently been repaired.