Pretoria court still gutted 13 years after fire
Next month it will be 13 years since a large section of the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court was gutted during a fire. Despite promises to revamp this heritage site, nothing has been done to date.
A Pretoria News report says AfriForum submitted an application last week to the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development, as well as to the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, to try establish what the plans are regarding the restoration.
AfriForum is now demanding full information regarding the 2010 fire and the respective departments’ involvement in the restoration of this building.
A tender for the repair of the court has already been awarded and repair work in terms of the tender agreement was set to start in February 2015.
According to AfriForum’s Charné Mostert, the procedures in the awarding of the tender have been followed, but the delay in repairing the court is a cause for concern.
Mostert maintained that more than a decade of further decay of the building, years of theft, vandalism and neglect will also now have to be addressed.
‘The government’s prolonged inability to properly address this matter is unacceptable. Therefore, it is imperative to expose the underlying factors contributing to these delays,’ Mostert said.
AfriForum is demanding all correspondence from both departments, including memorandums, emails, and other communications regarding the progress of the renovation and any issues affecting it.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
