Illegal residents evicted as Excelsior Court handed over to Public Works Department
The handover is pending legal proceedings to address illegal occupation of the building.
THE SAPS accommodation block, Excelsior Court, which has been steadily falling into disrepair over the last few years, will be handed over to the Department of Public Works (DPWI).
Shadow Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Samantha Graham-Maré said: “The SAPS is currently engaging in this process. Subsequently, DPWI will allocate the facility to the Department of Defense (DoD) which has a need for residential accommodation for the SANDF. The SANDF Regional Facilities Interface Management (RFIM) office in Durban has verbally expressed their interest in the property and conducted a site visit in early 2020. They thereafter indicated that they will be engaging with their headquarters to formally express their interest to DPWI and secure funding for renovations to the facility,” she said.
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The handover is pending legal proceedings, added Graham-Maré. The department has not commenced with the assessment of the building due to illegal occupation, she explained.
“The SAPS has reported that a court process is underway to evict the illegal occupants. The department is still waiting for SAPS to finalise their eviction process,” she said.
According to Graham-Maré, the department will determine the highest and best use of the facility, after the eviction process is complete.
“The department does not have plans to alienate the property. The department shall conduct a full condition assessment of the facility once the eviction process is concluded by SAPS,” she said.
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She added that several attempts were made to conduct routine maintenance on the property over the years.
“Unfortunately property/items are repeatedly being vandalised and damaged by the occupants. DPWI is unable to take full responsibility in safe-guarding the property and it has no control over management due to continuous intimidation by the occupants. The SAPS was requested to prohibit persons from walking in the danger zone,” said Graham-Maré.
Graham-Maré confirmed that there are no outstanding amounts owed to the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in outstanding rates and services at Excelsior Court.
SAPS did not send their comment at the time this article was published.
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