A Bedfordview developer who continued drilling through bedrock despite repeated deadlines and instructions from the City of Ekurhuleni has been ordered by the Johannesburg High Court to stop the noisy work until his neighbour’s daughter finishes her matric examinations.
Judge Wentzel-Thompson interdicted Jean Pierre Muluila from drilling, jackhammering and breaking rock at his 14-unit residential development until 27 November 2026.
The order does not stop all construction. Ordinary building work may continue, but the high-impact excavation that has disrupted the neighbouring family is prohibited for the duration of the matric examinations.
In a judgment handed down on 13 October, the court found that the rock-breaking had continued for about 15 months, despite three successive completion dates that were not met.
“The developer admits that the undertakings were given and not kept,” the judge said.
The application was brought by Robert Lumb, who lives next to the development with his wife and two daughters.
The court heard that the noise had become so disruptive that Lumb’s daughter had to leave home to study elsewhere on 16 and 23 September. The latter was the eve of her mathematics preliminary examination.
The family had also moved out of their home between 15 and 26 August.
The judge found that the continued rock-breaking interfered with the family’s use and enjoyment of their property and threatened to disrupt the daughter’s preparation for her final examinations.
The City had set 18 August 2026 as the final day for drilling. Muluila had communicated that date himself, but the work continued.
On 25 August, the City wrote to him confirming that it would “uphold 18 August 2026 as the last day for drilling”.
It also required him to submit a revised noise management plan by 31 August.
He did not submit the plan. Instead, Muluila accused the City of being “unfair” and “biased” towards Lumb.
According to the judgment, he said there was “nothing he can do that will satisfy the neighbour” and challenged Lumb to take him to court.
Lumb eventually did. City inspectors found drilling and jackhammering continuing on 16 and 21 September.
On 1 October, the City emailed Muluila a final notice requiring him to stop drilling until he complied with its requirements and submitted a detailed action plan.
Lumb told the court that the work had continued on eight days between 22 September and 3 October, including the public holiday on 24 September and two Saturdays.
Muluila did not dispute that the work had continued. He said he had carried on because he needed to finish the development.
The judge concluded that it was “evident that the developer is not inclined to comply with the final notice issued by the City”.
Muluila argued that Lumb had created his own urgency by waiting too long to approach the court.
The judge rejected that argument, finding that Lumb had repeatedly complained to the developer, his contractor and his foreman before turning to the City.
Lumb had accepted successive assurances that the drilling would stop and had given the authorities an opportunity to intervene.
The judge said a person who gives the responsible regulator a fair opportunity to act “is not to be penalised for doing so”.
The court also found that the noise presented a continuing problem. Each day of rock-breaking renewed the interference with the family’s use of its home, while the developer could not say when the work would end.
The judge said the daughter could not recover the study time lost during the period when the drilling continued.
Muluila told the court that he had not anticipated the difficulty of breaking the bedrock when he acquired the properties.
The development comprises 14 double-storey units, with the building plans approved in October 2023. Construction began in February 2025.
A band of rock crosses two of the stands and must be broken before the ground can be levelled to allow further construction.
Because explosives cannot be used in a residential area, holes are drilled into the rock and filled with an expansive chemical agent. The softened rock is then broken up with jackhammers.
Muluila had engaged three specialist drilling companies, with the latest, Elchom Group, reporting that the rock was harder than initially expected.
He could not give the court a reliable date for when the work would be completed.
He also argued that a sound test at the boundary wall had recorded noise levels comparable to those of a washing machine. He said no other neighbours had complained and maintained that Lumb had objected to the development from the outset.
The judge acknowledged the difficulties facing the developer.
“I have some sympathy for the developer,” Wentzel-Thompson said, noting that the unexpected rock formation had increased the cost and complexity of the project.
The judge also accepted that Muluila “may have a point” in arguing that Lumb had been an unreasonable neighbour.
However, the court found that the question was whether the noise amounted to an unreasonable interference with the family’s use of its property.
“An approved building plan authorises the building, not a nuisance of the level experienced by the applicant,” the judge said.
Lumb had asked the court to stop all construction at the development.
The judge refused to grant such a broad order, noting that Lumb had previously accepted that ordinary building work could continue during normal working hours.
Instead, the interdict specifically prohibits drilling, jackhammering, hydraulic and mechanical rock-breaking, pneumatic drilling, rock-crushing and substantially similar high-impact excavation activities.
The prohibition applies to Muluila and anyone acting on his instructions or under his authority or control, including contractors engaged to remove the rock.
It remains in force until 27 November, when the daughter’s final matric examinations are due to be completed.
The judge also declined to order punitive legal costs. Muluila must pay Lumb’s legal costs on the ordinary party-and-party scale, with counsel’s fees taxed on Scale B.
The City separately agreed to an order requiring it to serve a notice stopping drilling until Muluila provides a noise management plan and an environmental health management plan.
