The luxurious R600 million Fairmont Zimbali Hotel and Resort stands proudly on the North Coast, its beauty adorns the pages of glossy magazines and its splendour attracts upmarket guests from South Africa and abroad.
However, the small subcontractors who put their energy and resources into the construction and completion of the resort are struggling to get the millions of rand owed to them, despite completing work on the prestigious project they believed would put their businesses on the map.
The problem started in August, 2009 when the main contractor, G Liviero and Sons, walked off the site, claiming it had not been paid by Dubai-based developers IFA Hotels and Resorts.
Desperate to get the resort completed in time for the World Cup, IFA entered into contracts directly with some of the remaining subcontractors on site. But a legal wrangle between Liviero and IFA over which party breached the contract, and who thus owes whom money, means the smaller contractors have not been fully paid by either party.
Last year, IFA was instructed by the Pietermaritzburg High Court to pay R18m to Liviero. However, because IFA is filing counter-claim, the amount
a must be kept as security and cannot be used pending the outcome.
And as Liviero's contracts with the subcontractors state that payment only has to be made when it is paid, the company argues that it is not obliged to pay the subcontractors until the funds are released.
Peter Barnard, of Cox Yeats Attorneys, who acts for most of the subcontractors, said his clients argued that Liviero should not withhold payment for this reason as, in the "strict sense", it had received payment.
The subcontractors and Liviero have agreed to refer the matter to arbitration.
Stefcon, the builder of the suites and condominiums surrounding the hotel, was also awaiting payment from IFA, and could not pay its subcontractors either, said Barnard.
The amount owed to the subcontractors by Liviero was about R12m, and more than R2 million by Stefcon and IFA.
Isidingo Plumbing owner Leslie Sydney said he was owed money by IFA, Liviero and Stefcon. He said if it had not had some money put away, his business would have closed a year and a half ago. The company is owed more than R4m by Liviero, IFA and Stefcon.
"It has been difficult, and it all comes full circle because we owe money to our suppliers, and they want to now take legal action against us. Last year, one company wanted to liquidate our company," said Sydney.
Barnard said most of the subcontractors had received payment certificates for the money owed by IFA, but they were not signed.
IFA president Wessel Witthuhn said it was in the final account stages with the subcontractors, none of whose work had been signed off. "There are snag lists and they must come back and finish their work."
But Gavin Marshall, owner of Master Sundecks, responded that his firm's work had not been signed off because the professionals who should have done so had not been paid either. He added that the claim that the work was defective held no water.
"He (Witthuhn) is having weddings and high-profile parties there (at Zimbali), and is entertaining people on my decks. Whenever I have tried to go there to see these defects, there are people swimming in the pool and having photographs taken on my deck, so how can they be defective? He would also need to have indemnity for those people's safety and he wouldn't be able to (get indemnity) if the work was defective."
Marshall said he was owed R900 000 by Liviero, R250 000 by IFA and R180 000 by Stefcon.
"This has crippled our finances. I am living off my wife's salary," he said.