Containers at Riverview Church of Christ Main Road, Westlake. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/ Independent Newspapers
The storage container business at the Riverview Church in Lakeside has been interdicted from any further operation at the site with an order for all clients to have their goods removed from storage by March 31.
The matter was heard on the urgent application roll at the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
In the same matter, congregant pastor Honore Makembe and his wife Bijoux Makembe, both present, informed the court that their attorney of record, Tim Chase from STBB attorneys, had withdrawn from the record citing “financial constraints”.
In granting the order for the matter to be heard on the semi-urgent roll, Judge Noluthando Nziweni ordered that the respondents in the matter were interdicted and restrained from operating a storage facility at the immovable Lakeside property other than for the purposes of retrieving and removing goods from the containers.
Further in the order, the respondents – which includes Metric Storage Containers and Trailers, Riverview Church of Christ, trustees for the time being of the Church of Christ, Bijoux Makembe and Honore Makembe – are interdicted from leasing the containers on the property or to permit any persons to store any goods at the property other than for the purposes of retrieving and removing goods from such containers, court papers read.
The respondents have also been immediately interdicted from entering into new agreements leasing out the containers on the property to other persons until all necessary approvals and authorisations have been properly granted.
Deputy mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, Eddie Andrews, said they had instituted the urgent application against Metric Storage Containers and others who were, inter alia, illegally operating a storage facility at the immovable property.
“The containers can be accessed by any persons who have stored goods at the property (until) March 31 but only for purposes of retrieving and removing their goods”.
“On or after April 2, the sheriff will seal off the storage containers, and no person may thereafter access the containers, except for the purpose of removing the containers from the property. On May 16, the City will again go to court to seek an order, inter alia, that the containers are removed from the property by Metric Storage and others and that they are thereafter interdicted and restrained from using the property as a container site or warehouse,” said Andrews.
Metric Storage owner Dealtry Pickford had entered into a five-year lease agreement with the church board of trustees.
However, an application for a zoning departure at the premises was submitted to the municipality but has not yet been presented at council for approval. Neither the Makembes nor Pickford responded when approached for comment.
Cape Times