Insurer SA Eagle is taking the Johannesburg city council to court in a bid to get back R30 million it forked out to rebuild Wanderers Club, claiming the council was negligent in letting the club burn down in 2004.
Underfunding of Johannesburg emergency services and staff shortages are long-standing concerns. Losing the case could have serious implications for the city as it would open the way for other legal challenges by companies and individuals unhappy with the service they received from emergency services.
Last month, a Bryanston resident said her four-bedroom house burnt to the ground because of the fire department's slow reaction.
Karen Norval said police and paramedics arrived long before the first fire engine, leaving her neighbours to try to douse the fire with buckets of water and hoses.
Emergency services spokesman Malcolm Midgley said a truck was sent as soon as the call was received. But there is a discrepancy of 40 minutes between when the fire allegedly started and when the truck set out.
SA Eagle, insurer of the 70-year-old Wanderers clubhouse, approached the city last year after it paid R30 million to rebuild the club, claiming that Johannesburg's emergency staff were negligent.
Council sources say the action could stem from reports that a fire in the roof, which had not been properly extinguished, started up again later, suggesting that inspection of the scene was insufficient.
At a closed meeting between emergency services and the public safety committee soon after the fire, issues such as understaffing of fire engines were raised after witnesses said none of the trucks arrived with the full four-man staff requirement.
SA Eagle group marketing manager Malini Merkofer-Naidoo said on Monday the insurer was applying for a court date. "The pleadings from both sides have been filed, and all that remains is for a court date to be set," she said.
No settlement proposal has been made by the city, which continues to deny negligence.
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, main hall, kitchen and the historic clock tower, taking with it much historically significant sports memorabilia.
Among items saved from the fire were a golden cup donated to Wanderers in 1888, the year after it was founded, a framed picture of the club's 1902 committee showing club president Sir Abe Bailey and club chairman Sir Julius Jeppe, and three cricket bats including one signed by members of the 1999 South African cricket team.
Lost was a Steinway grand piano, a brass plaque commemorating club members who lost their lives in the two world wars, a painting of club founder Victor Kent, stained-glass windows and many trophies.
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 those of the rest of the province. At the time, members of the public safety committee warned understaffing, an insufficient budget and lack of proper management in emergency services could lead to a serious incident for which the city would be accountable.
Business Day
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
