Developer ruffles locals' feathers

hazyview - retail shopping centre giant twin city developments continues to flout the rules with its multi-million rand blue haze mall extension.
the pretoria-based company has a poor history in the town and is upsetting local developers, protection agencies and the local municipality with its disregard for building regulations and the environment.
now mbombela building inspectors have placed a stop order on the current extension. although the foundations and steel frame structure are already in place, according to mr maarten coetzee of the department of urban and rural planning, no building plans have been approved. neither has the builder taken any notice of the directive to cease building.

it's not the first time blue haze mall has fallen foul of the authorities. and twin city's managing director mr arnold pistorius courts controversy.
when the company was first extending the shopping centre several years ago, pistorius had a major confrontation with wessa - the wildlife and environment society of sa.

its spokesman on compliance issues, dr simon evered, recalls that permission was never applied for to have the complete portion of land zoned for change of use and the environmental impact assessment process was flawed. "i received calls from mr pistorius who was very arrogant and impolite," said evered. he claimed that pistorius' manner was threatening and intimated that the matter had nothing to do with wessa.

other developers in hazyview are equally upset with twin city's approach. mr tienie snyman, a property developer, maintained that he and others were being held back, ostensibly because of lack of water supply, while twin city ploughed on regardless. "we are all very upset that there is not a level playing field for all," said snyman. "it is a very convenient centre but this does not make mr pistorius the godfather who can do whatever he wants."

blue haze mall is billed as a modern regional shopping centre and the largest in mpumalanga and limpopo province with nearly 200 shops. the extension will add 5 500 to the existing 57 000 square metre shopping centre and shoprite will be the anchor tenant. the new shops were scheduled to open last december.
twin city was established by pistorius in 1984, and has centres in burgersfort, bushbuckridge, groblersdal and the rights to a prime location in maputo. the company's website states that "twin city's mission is to create shopping centres that will continue to be a positive contribution to the community".

twin city's headquarter’s staff told lowvelder that pistorius was currently overseas. we were referred to marketing and leasing director mr johan visagie who, when eventually contacted, was not prepared to respond verbally.