Legal volley leaves KZN tennis club at break point

Despite winning a legal volley against the eThekwini municipality , a double fault by the city has left the province’s largest and oldest tennis facility courting financial distress.

It all started in May 2023 when eThekwini Tennis Association and advertising and signage company Evolv Outdoor applied to the city to upgrade its weathered analogue billboard — which generated 90% of the club’s income — with a digital one.

But the municipality rejected the application in line with the city’s outdoor advertising bylaw and dragged its feet for close to two years on an appeal decision. At the time it denied claims they ignored the matter or speculation they were looking for a bribe .

The bylaw states: “A billboard may be permitted for a period of five years in urban areas of minimum control and in urban areas of partial control, subject to conditions which may be imposed by the municipality.”

The city added that the venue is a “maximum control area”, thus the type of billboard required cannot be permitted as per these extracts of the bylaw:

(a) Only low-impact outdoor advertising signs that do not interfere with, dominate or derogate in any way from the character or quality of the environment, including the visual, social and traffic safety aspects, will be permitted

(b) Third-party advertising is not permitted, saying the land was public open space and it would cause a traffic and transport distraction.

In 1956 the Durban Lawn Tennis Association (now ETA) signed a 99-year lease with the municipality to build and maintain the stadium with a centre court and outside courts, in Mayville.

ETA, which is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the stadium, grounds and courts, employed 11 full-time staff members, who have had to reduce hours since the billboard impasse. ETA sub-leased the management of signage and advertising within the venue to Evolv Outdoors.

Frustrated at the delay and lack of income, the signage company and ETA went to court and in October 2025 judge Rishinand Seegobin ruled in their favour. He said there was improper classification as public open space and failure to follow municipal bylaws.

But the municipality was determined to fight this and went to the Supreme Court of Appeal where in February judge Pieter Bezuidenhout dismissed the city’s attempt to suspend Seegobin’s order.

He cited exceptional circumstances for his decision including Evolv stood to lose millions of rand in monthly revenue while ETA faced imminent closure.

In March the SCA granted the municipality leave to appeal only on the substitution order issue — which is still to be heard — but in June, judges Nkosinathi Chili, Sidwell Mngadi and Nontuthuzelo Mlaba dismissed the appeal outright.

By then over R4m had been spent on construction of the new digital sign and Evolv was due to pay the ETA 25% of profits or about R270,000 monthly.