The Northern Cape High Court has intervened in a bitter standoff between the Northern Cape Provincial Government and a private landlord, ordering Ocean Echo Properties (Pty) Ltd to grant immediate access to a building that has become the centre of a public safety and financial administration scandal.
In a judgement delivered by Judge Mpho Mamosebo on 12 December, the court compelled the landlord to provide the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison with “immediate and full access” to its former offices on the corner of Sydney and Lennox Street in Kimberley.
Ocean Echo has also been ordered to pay the costs of this application on the scale as between party and party.
Crucial documents locked away
The ruling allows departmental officials to retrieve crucial government records essential for completing mandatory annual financial statements, ending a deadlock that threatened the department’s ability to meet legislative auditing requirements.
Whilst awaiting a spoliation application to be heard in 2027, the department brought this application to be granted immediate access to the building where officials were housed before vacating in response to prohibition notices.
According to the department, the long-term lease between the parties had lapsed, and they had been occupying the building on a month-to-month basis. Ocean Echo, however, disputes the alleged lapse of the long-term lease and maintains that it was automatically renewed in accordance with the relevant clauses of the agreement. There is a separate court order for the department to pay rent directly to Nedbank Limited.
In its answering affidavit, Glynis Millicent Aysen, a member of Ocean Echo, refuted the urgency of the application and claimed that the perceived urgency was self-created. She further argued that the application was abusing the court process, urging the court to strike the matter from the roll with costs due to lack of urgency.
“However, I am of the view that the respondent’s opposition ignores the real issue on the face of the letter from the Provincial Treasury to enable the provincial department to fulfill its mandatory obligations,” the judge found.
“Ocean Echo’s withholding of the sought documents stands between the department and its compliance obligations in terms of the above-mentioned provisions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The respondent’s opposition of this application ignores, and even seems to downplay, the department’s compliance obligations notwithstanding the letter from the Provincial Treasury seeking the department’s compliance.”
Hazardous conditions force evacuation
Whilst the department immediately welcomed the latest ruling as an affirmation of its responsibility to maintain transparency, the court order has simultaneously cast a harsh spotlight on the hazardous conditions that forced the department to evacuate the premises in the first place, as well as the contentious legal history of the property owners.
The legal battle for access to files is the aftermath of an emergency evacuation triggered by severe health and safety failures at the Ocean Echo building. The deteriorating state of the building culminated in the Department of Employment and Labour issuing two prohibition notices on 26 November 2024, effectively barring further occupation until the structure was declared safe.
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Court documents and background facts cited in the judgement paint a grim picture of the working environment endured by civil servants. The prohibition notices cited serious structural and ventilation deficiencies, including non-functional air conditioners and a lack of windows. These issues, compounded by old carpeting, created an environment with dangerously poor air quality. Furthermore, the building’s fire escape staircase was deemed unstable, a critical safety failure that prevented the department from conducting mandatory fire drills.
The conditions were so severe that departmental working hours had to be restricted to just six hours a day to limit exposure. However, the human and financial toll on the province has already been substantial.
The severity of the safety concerns at this building in Kimberley is further illustrated by a fatal incident in which a 31-year-old worker fell down an elevator shaft from the sixth floor and died during construction in 2014.
Pattern of litigation
The latest standoff over the files is not the first time the entities and individuals behind Ocean Echo Properties have faced judicial scrutiny. An examination of public court records reveals a pattern of litigious behaviour involving the company’s members, Glynis Millicent Aysen and Patrick Deon Simons, often resulting in sharp rebukes from the bench.
In 2018, Ocean Echo Properties 333 CC attempted to appeal a High Court decision regarding a failed bid for a Department of Roads and Public Works tender. In dismissing the application, Judge Mamosebo described the company’s legal manoeuvring as “opportunistic” and noted there were “no reasonable prospects of success,” warning that such litigation amounted to an abuse of court process.
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In a judgement delivered on 9 July 2021, a company linked to Simons, Aiming High Development Corporation, sought to compel Sol Plaatje Municipality to transfer a valuable piece of land, Erf 5337 in Kimberley.
The court found a fatal flaw in the application: all prior negotiations and municipal resolutions had been conducted with an entity named “Messrs Evolution Investment Holdings”. The High Court determined that this entity did not legally exist.
Judge Mamosebo stated it was “evident that there was no entity in existence by the name of Evolution Investment Holdings” and found that the impression created by Simons that such a company existed was “misleading and in breach of the Companies Act”. The judgement also highlighted a severe lapse in municipal due diligence, noting that meticulous checking would have revealed the non-existence of the company before negotiations began.
