It will cost the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality at least R53m to fix the Red Location Cultural Precinct, but first an agreement needs to be reached with residents about housing that could pave the way for it to be reopened.
The city wants to rope in the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) to broker a deal to resolve a decade-long impasse that shuttered the cultural showpiece.
The precinct, housing the Red Location Museum, a digital library and an art gallery, has been closed since 2013 and the facilities have fallen prey to vandals and vagrants in the interim.
On Friday, the city’s sports, recreation, arts and culture committee approved that R400,000 be set aside for the MBDA to oversee engagements with residents.
The proposal will now go before the council for a final decision.
The MBDA will also try to secure funding to assist the municipality with fixing the damage.
The New Brighton precinct was built to honour anti-apartheid heroes and reflects a vibrant history and the people who shaped the township.
Its lengthy closure was enforced because of community protests over housing in the surrounding areas.
Six months before it shut up shop, 71,000 people had visited the tourism magnet.
The housing issue goes back to the opening of the museum, when residents felt aggrieved at their own living conditions.
They believed that by ploughing millions of rand into a tourist attraction in the midst of devastating poverty, the government was being insensitive to their needs.
Though some houses were built, they were not nearly enough.
Then came an even bigger bone of contention — the houses built by the government in the area years before began to crumble.
But by then, the state had reduced its standard size for an RDP house from 48m² to 40m².
This led to the precinct being closed by residents.
According to a report tabled by the department’s acting executive director, Charmaine Williams, at least R53m was needed to fix the three buildings.
The breakdown is as follows:
- The museum (R39.7m);
- The digital library and archive (R7.6m); and
- The art gallery R5.8m.
Williams’s report recommends that the rehabilitation be done in phases, starting with the gallery, followed by the library and then the museum.
The recommendation to rope in the MBDA was adopted after the initial resistance of ANC councillor Mpumelelo Majola.
He said a lot of work had already been done to ensure residents approved of future work at the precinct.
“As the ward councillor in that area, I can tell you that we have had those meetings, and if work starts tomorrow people will welcome it,” Majola said.
However, Williams said it was important that tangible agreements were in place before any work started.
“We need a social compact because there has to be a commitment from the communities that when the rehabilitation happens we will not be confronted with the recurring situation that we come from,” she said.
“There was a time when the national department of sport, arts & culture was prepared to invest about R420m in a performing arts complex in the area.
“However, no-one wants to invest further in a precinct unless there is stability and a sense of ownership taken by the community,” she said.
Though the MBDA will try to source funding for the revamp, the council earlier agreed that R15m be set aside for the 2024/25 financial year for the work to start.
Williams said it was likely that more than R53m would be needed.
“Over and above the structural assessment, there have been cost escalations because it was done a few years ago.”
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