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Abandoned Transnet buildings in Nelson Mandela Bay are threatening the tourism sector and eroding the city’s heritage, as the properties worth millions of rand continue to decay.
Little has been done in years to fix the old Harbour Board building in Central, Hume Park in Humewood and the five rundown Edwardian buildings in South End.
The prime beachfront vista from the city’s harbour to Kings Beach, which is also owned by Transnet, is covered in thorn bushes, with rusting railway lines and a broken pavement parapet.
Tourists entering the city via cruise ship or driving in from the N2 are greeted by these eyesores and the dilapidated houses.
At the corner of Flemming and Strand streets, the old Harbour Board building, one of the finest examples of art nouveau architecture in the country, stands idle and bricked up.
Hume Park, the once-popular caravan park and recreational club boasting a pub and sports fields, has become a shadow of its former self after closing down in 2016. It has become dirty and vagrants often sleep there.
All the properties are located within tourism hotspots.
Transnet Property acting CEO Meshack Phiri said the parastatal was aware of the “squatters” at Hume Park during the festive season and security had been dispatched to avoid further issues.
“The cleaning of the site however is subject to a procurement process which will be under way soon. We would like to assure you that everything possible will be done to speed up the process of procurement.”
He said the old Harbour Board building had been bricked up to prevent further vandalism.
“Renovations will commence when a suitable tenant is secured.”
The rundown houses in Girdlestone Street have become a source of frustration for the Nelson Mandela Bay Heritage Trust.
Dating back to the early 1900s, the Edwardian houses are the last residential buildings in South End that survived apartheid’s forced removals and demolitions in the 1960s and 1970s.
The houses were purchased by Propnet — now called Transnet Property — when it developed the narrow-gauge PE-Avontuur railway and the station just off Humewood Road in the 1940s.
South End Museum director Colin Abrahams said the museum was interested in integrating some of the buildings in the street but an agreement could never be reached with Transnet.
“We wanted to develop the museum even further,” Abrahams said.
Nelson Mandela Bay Heritage Trust member Andrew Reed said the trustees had tried to get the houses recognised as a provincial heritage site but this was never possible.
However, according to Reed, the houses are protected by the 60-year rule, an informal name given to section 34 of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA).
The Act states: “No person may alter or demolish any structure or part of a structure which is older than 60 years without a permit issued by the relevant provincial heritage resources authority.”
Reed said: “In 2012, we met with Transnet and they could not reveal to us what their plan was for Girdlestone.
“They told us they are keeping a maintenance register and security on site and that the lack of roofing was from weathering.
“A few years later there was a fire and they have been deteriorating ever since.”
He said the manner in which Transnet had dealt with the property suggested it wanted to employ demolition by neglect.
The DA’s ward 2 councillor Renaldo Gouws said Transnet’s behaviour was an example of a lack of accountability.
Once a month, Gouws said, he and other volunteers cleaned up the stretch of beachfront owned by Transnet.
With overgrown bush running from Kings Beach to South End, the area has become dangerous.
Muggings and robberies are now commonplace.
“Criminals are using the area as an easy escape route,” Gouws said.
At the Humewood station, which used to be the starting point for the Apple Express train, vagrants have made a permanent camp.
At the station, there are several rundown and derelict buildings.
The nearby old Harbour Board building faces a similar situation. The property was vacated by Edu-College in 2016.
Since then it has been repeatedly broken into, with some of its richly ornamented woodwork such as doors and stained glass windows removed.
Most of the brass doorknobs, rods, plates, gold-plated taps, backing strips, fireplace surrounds and chandeliers have been stolen — and they are irreplaceable.
The building is protected by the NHRA, a three-tier system of protection made up of a national, provincial and local level.
It is classified as a provincial heritage site.
In 1998 Propnet commissioned architect John Rushmere to restore the building.
Today, damage to the roof is visible from the N2. It is used by criminals as an entryway.
Tour Guide Association secretary Tony Neveling said he would schedule a meeting with the metro’s economic development, tourism and agriculture political head Khusta Jack to see how the municipality could assist with saving the properties.
Nelson Mandela Bay Heritage Trust secretary Lynn Haller said it had been a struggle dealing with Transnet for years.
Last year, Eastern Cape sports, recreation, arts and culture MEC Fezeka Nkomonye said they would engage the Eastern Cape Provincial Heritage Resources Authority to look into solutions.
Her spokesperson, Busisiwe Jemsana-Mantashe, said after meeting with Transnet it was agreed the parastatal would repair the building.
“The order [a compulsory repair order] was not issued after engagements. The parastatal said it was willing to do some renovations to the building and we, therefore, saw no need to issue it.
“The unfortunate part in this is that for Transnet to do repairs it must have a willing tenant. Investing in the building where there is no tenant would count as a fruitless expenditure.”
But Haller said: “Unfortunately, nothing has changed. We escalated the matter to the Sahra [South African Heritage Resource Agency].”
Six years after the popular tourism spot Hume Park was shut down, the 12.3ha of land that includes rugby and soccer grounds, five tennis courts and a bowling green, lies desolate.
The property at the top of Perrott Avenue in Humerail is a far cry from the once lively caravan park. The grass is now heavily overgrown.
After 20 years of leasing the property, Reynardt Rall was forced to shut down the Hume Park Railway Sports Club. To date, there has not been another tenant.
The recreation centre is only occupied by security guards.
Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism chair Shaun van Eck said Hume Park and the old Harbour Board building could be used to revitalise local tourism.
“The old Harbour Board Building could be part of revitalising the central business district. This type of heritage still has a large market from a tourism point of view.”
He said the Hume Park land had huge potential and the property could serve multiple purposes.
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