Urgent steps needed to save our heritage buildings

For far too long, some of Nelson Mandela Bay’s oldest and most beautiful buildings have been allowed to deteriorate into derelict eyesores.

Once the pride of the city, these buildings — some of them national monuments — are now a disgrace, in large part thanks to landlords who neglect problem buildings.

Just some of these include the Old Post Office, the old Harbour Board building, Port Elizabeth Railway Station and Highview Flats in the Gqeberha city centre.

Now, heritage authorities are threatening to clamp down.

This follows a visit to neglected buildings by the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority last weekend. 

The authority’s chair, Dumisani Sibayi, said a number of heritage buildings in the Bay needed protection.

“It is high time we send a strong message to developers and the public,” Sibayi said.

“Some people ask us why we spend so much time preserving colonial buildings, but unfortunately we own these buildings, and we have a responsibility to implement our legislation.

“It’s no longer colonial legislation; these are buildings we need to protect.

“We try our best, with the assistance of conservation bodies and other state organs, to ensure we issue compliance notices. We will write those letters.”

Sibayi said if landlords did not comply with the heritage resources authority’s notices, it could invoke Section 45 of the National Heritage Resources Act, which would allow for compulsory repair orders to be issued to the owners.

And it is about time action is taken.

These buildings are more than just structures made of brick and mortar.

Some of them date back to the city’s earliest days, back when it was still called Port Elizabeth.

Naturally, these heritage buildings — from colonial-era structures to sites of anti-apartheid struggle — tell the story of the country’s journey through architecture.

These buildings serve as physical links to SA’s past.

So it is crucial for government bodies, private stakeholders and communities to collaborate on conservation efforts.

And while we welcome the heritage authority’s intervention, we hope it’s not too little too late.

We also hope that they will follow through with said intervention — and that it will actually force property owners to take better care of their buildings. 

The Herald