The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape will submit a dossier of photographs reflecting the state of abandoned government buildings in the Hantam municipality to the Premier. We will also seek to engage with the local municipality about the impact that these abandoned buildings are having on it, as well as its roles and responsibilities in respect of these structures.
During his inaugural address in 2019, the Premier announced that unused state buildings will be sold but we do not see this happening in Hantam.
This was confirmed during a series of oversight inspections that I recently conducted in Calvinia over the past couple of weeks.
The old hospital is dirty and neglected, and the plundering has started, with pieces of internal gates already cut away, signs of internal fires being made and people residing in the building.
The rambling Rebunie hostel, with so much potential, is misused and in the process of being stripped of equipment. It is another symbol of dilapidation, left for vagrants to defecate in.
The old traffic department has been emptied out. Aside from rubbish strewn everywhere, there is no glass on windows, locks on doors, covers on drains or zinc on the roof.
While these and other buildings stand empty, the Departments of Labour and Agriculture, Home Affairs, various SAPS units and even the IEC, which is housed less than 30 meters away from an empty state-owned building with more than enough rooms to host a bunch of departments and entities, are leasing private office space.
The situation is wasteful, unresourceful, intolerable and costing the state millions of rands.
As I continue to pursue this matter and seek answers, I hope that the Premier will also push government to work faster to either sell off buildings in Hantam that are of no use, or have them converted according to state accommodation needs, or even into affordable housing.
The longer these properties remain vacant, the more prone they become to vandalism which impacts the value of these buildings and their assets, as well as the surrounding properties.