Woman in court fight over beach club ‘bullying’
A Durban woman has gone to court to stop the Durban Undersea Club and Point Watersports Club from barring her access to the premises, where her club is also situated.
|||A Durban woman who says she is being victimised after openly showing support for the Save Vetch’s movement has gone to court to stop the Durban Undersea Club and Point Watersports Club from barring her access to the premises, where her club is also situated.
Karin Solomon, a Point Yacht Club member, brought an urgent application in the Durban High Court on Friday to stop the club’s management from interfering with her access by cancelling her membership access cards.
On Friday, the club’s manager and chairman both gave an undertaking that they would not deactivate her membership cards pending the outcome of the application.
In her court papers, Solomon said the club’s management had been “humiliating and openly bullying” her “over an extended period of time”.
She said their alleged abuse and harassment began after she was seen wearing a Save Vetch’s Beach T-shirt on the club’s premises in February 2012.
In an answering affidavit, the attorney acting for the club’s chairman, Cuane Hall, and manager, Paul Smit, said the application was “unnecessary and unjustified”.
They are still to file detailed opposing papers.
The Save Vetch’s Association was formed several years ago to oppose the development of a small-craft harbour and marina on Vetch’s Pier and beach because of environmental concerns and the impact it would have on public access, recreational clubs and watersport enthusiasts. The Point Watersports Club was formed after most of the clubs signed an agreement with the developers, agreeing to the development.
After several years of litigation, the original harbour and marina plan was scrapped and the association came to a compromise with the developers in December 2012.
In her affidavit before the court, Solomon said she had full membership of the Point Yacht Club and Point Watersports Club.
She said the yacht club and the Durban Undersea Club were both at Vetch’s beach and shared premises and access to club facilities.
Solomon said her latest altercation with club staff occurred over the Easter weekend when she was due to help her club during the SA Hobie National Regatta. When she arrived, she found that her card to open the boom gate had been deactivated.
She said that was the fourth time since 2012 that her card had been deactivated “without any reason or notice”.
When she asked Smit the reason, he told her he had been instructed by Hall to do so. The interaction became unpleasant, Solomon said.
She said she believed that the 2012 incident with her Save Vetch’s T-shirt had sparked her problems with the club, as on that day she was ordered out of the club for no apparent reason. Hall, whom she did not know at that stage, stormed up to the table and shouted for her to get out of “his club”. She said he threatened to have her dragged out.
She asked for an explanation from the undersea club, but instead complaints were made against her to the yacht club. The yacht club found no reason to discipline her.
“I feel my reputation at the PYC and elsewhere has been unjustifiably sullied. I am in constant fear that this ongoing pattern of bullying will not cease.”
In response, attorney Louisa van Staden, for Hall and Smit, said it was common cause that the disputes about Solomon’s access dated back several years.
She pointed out that Solomon had also launched a protection-from-harassment application against Hall in the Durban Magistrate’s Court and was therefore seeking the same relief in two courts, and that the current application to the high court was premature.
Van Staden said Solomon’s membership cards were reactivated a day after the incident in March, were returned to her and had subsequently been used on three separate occasions over the weekend.
The matter will be back in court later this month.
Daily News
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