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Durban — Residents of uMhlanga, north of Durban have demanded that the KZN Sharks Board must provide R250-million liability cover for their properties before selling fireworks on its premises.
The KZN Sharks Board is an entity responsible for protecting marine life on the provincial sea coast. Last week, it emerged that the government entity due to financial constraints was planning to sell fireworks to make extra money.
It appeared that the board, which receives funding from the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs was taking advantage of the Hindu community’s Diwali festival which requires a lot of fireworks as they celebrate the triumph of light over darkness.
Disturbed by the entity’s intention to sell fireworks next to their residential properties, ward 35 committee members intervened and requested clarification from the entity’s management. On Tuesday, the committee led by ward committee member Segren Pillay and uMhlanga Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association chairperson Terry Barnes met the entity’s board management.
Speaking to the Daily News after the meeting, Pillay who also represented ward councillor Bradley Singh said it emerged that the entity had not met all requirements for it to sell fireworks.
He said one of the main requirements was a million, which the entity would use to compensate for the loss of residential and business properties should there be a fire as a result of fireworks being sold by the entity.
“We wish to make it clear we are not against the entity’s decision to sell fireworks at its property, all we want is to ensure that proper procedures are being followed and the safety of the residents and their property are protected. Before the Sharks Board can commence selling fireworks, we need to see a vendor certificate from eThekwini Municipality, a flow plan of the explosive set-up with a fire-escape plan, a qualified and certified fire marshall on duty during shopping hours as public liability and all-risk policy cover letter specifying that ‘explosives’ will be covered in an event of a disaster,” said Pillay.
He said residents wanted clarity from the entity on how it would ensure that only 500kg of explosives on the premises would be kept as per its permit from the SAPS bomb squad. Pillay said in their meeting, that the entity’s management only produced certificates from the eThekwini Fire Department as well as from SAPS Bomb Squad.
In response, the KZN Sharks Board’s acting chief executive, Harry Mbambo first denied that the Sharks Board would sell the fireworks. He said the entity has hired its venue out to a particular company that has requested to use the venue to sell the products. The chief executive said the entity was using its venue to rent out to generate revenue.
“For the sustainability and smooth functioning we need to generate as much revenue to supplement the grant received from the provincial department. Mr. Pillay and the people he was with this morning during our 9am meeting were taken through how we conduct our business and moreover, they were shown all the necessary and relevant paperwork. It's a pity that I can't show you those permits here due to Popi Act restrictions. They all left our 9am meeting having been addressed and they were satisfied with everything shown to them,” Mbambo said.
On the issue of liability cover, Mbambo said the KZN Sharks Board has the insurer in place for a variety of items including but not limited to fires, flooding and any other disasters that may occur, unforeseeably.
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