The theatre, which was built in the early 20th century, was originally known as Grove Kinema. It was later renamed The Victory Theatre in honour of the Allied victory in World War II.
Former owner of the theatre, Joe Theron said the manager of the building heard a banging sound in the theatre in November last year, only to discover an auction notice being put up on the wall. “The bank had instructed the liquidator to auction the building with less than two weeks’ notice,” said Theron.
He said the auction was a disaster due to the short notice and lack of proper marketing and advertising. “Only the school who had rented the theatre for their plays, the church who had been renting the theatre for three years, and a friend of the garage owner next door attended the auction,” he said.
Theron said more than R32 million had been invested in the theatre, however the highest bid was R3.75 million on the day. “We were then notified months later that the church had come in and made an offer of R4.5 million,” he said.
The result is that the building has been closed and about 80 people have lost their jobs. Theron said the future of the theatre’s long-running show Umoja would also be jeopardised.
“Needless to say that Umoja and its affiliated companies will defend these actions as to avoid any further loss of jobs and destruction of companies that have always offered to honour its commitments to the bank even though under extremely difficult situations,” he added.
