The two-year battle between the City of Cape Town and "politically connected" local businessman Fred Robertson has reached the courts, where he will fight the council's decision to deny him permission to move into his "illegally" built Bantry Bay mansion.

Robertson, the chief executive of listed black empowerment company Brimstone, may be forced to alter and remove sections of his recently completed Bantry Bay building after city councillors refused to grant an after-the-fact approval for the structure.

The seafront building, estimated to be worth tens of millions of rands, has been criticised

Last year, Robertson had a building erected that exceeded the three-storey limit allowed by municipal regulations in that part of Cape Town.

The council then ordered that occupation be prevented and that demolition orders be obtained. The building was occupied despite an occupation certificate being withheld by the council. In an effort to avoid parts of the building being demolished to ensure compliance with council by-laws, an application for a five- storey building was then lodged - although the building was already completed.

Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security JP Smith said the matter was supposed to be heard on Monday in the Western Cape High Court, but alleged that Robertson and his legal team were using delaying tactics.

Smith said the process had been dragging on for two years and had been met with great anger by the local community who believe Robertson has been "allowed to get away" with illegal building work due to his "political connections".

The city's legal team also wrote that the advocates acting for Robertson had now given the city's legal team an informal indication that they intended to file an application with the High Court, asking it to postpone the hearing of their urgent application, which had been set down for hearing on Monday. The matter will now be heard on Tuesday.

The city is the respondent in that application, having been launched by Robertson in an attempt to obtain an order of court prohibiting the city from evicting the current occupants of the building, the lawyers said.

"The city is accordingly dismayed at the approach taken by the owners to now try and delay the hearing of the application further, after agreeing to the timetable which is an order of court, the effect of which can only be to extend the occupation of the Robertsons even further. The city will hence oppose any application for a postponement and is hopeful that the court will indeed still hear the matter on Tuesday," the lawyers said.

Robertson said the matter was sensitive as it involved his family and his private home, and was also before the courts.

"The building work in respect of the property is complete and it is entirely safe to occupy, but the City of Cape Town has refused to grant me the right to occupy the building. The decision taken by the city has been challenged in the Western Cape High Court. It is therefore inappropriate to comment on this aspect at this stage," Robertson said.

He said he had instructed his professional architect and town planner in 2009 to submit the applications as required by law to ensure that the building was fully compliant.

"This application is still being processed by the City of Cape Town," Robertson said.