Pretoria’s unseen Women’s Heritage monument: R200m ghost town?

The Women’s Living Heritage Monument in the Pretoria CBD is unsafe, not open to the public since its completion in 2019 and stands unnoticed, abandoned and forgotten.

For the past four years, the more the R200 million empty shell meant to be a monument to celebrate women stood unused next to Church Square where thousands of people work and shop daily, yet the monument resembled a ghost town.

Two students passing by the monument were shocked to learn the building was a monument that celebrated female struggle heroes.

“We have seen the building, but we had no idea what it was. We never saw anybody there. I thought it was just an abandoned building,” said one of the students.

The other student said the building was always empty and she only ever saw security guards on the property.

Another passerby, Nolwandle Dhladhla, said it was a shame that nobody knew what was supposed to go on behind the closed gates.

“And sadly, for us who know what it is, are not given access to the building,” she said. Dhladhla said it reminded her “as women where we were still placed in this day and age”.

Democratic Alliance Gauteng spokesperson for sports, arts, culture and recreation, Wildri Peach, said looking at structural damage over the past few years it was uncertain if the building could be saved.

Peach said the building was completed in 2019 but never handed over to the city because the occupancy certificate was never issued.

“There are severe structural deficiencies in the building. The city has indicated builder inspector regulations have contained a leaking roof, a problem with the fire suppression system, water leaks and the incorrect wiremen certificated,” he said.

Peach said the building was unsafe to be used by the public.

“Unfortunately, the Gauteng department of sports, culture and recreation over the past years have spent millions in additional funds to rectify these issues and get the facility operational,” he said.

“Very little has happened to utilise it. This is concerning, especially during Heritage Month, a facility which was specifically designed to celebrate women in South Africa’s heritage, something that is extremely important in our society today.”

Peach said more than R200 million was spent on the building and after Covid R70 million was allocated to commercialise the building, but that never happened.

“There have been various attempts by the department and budgeted money to have the building fixed and to have construction done, but still nothing happened because the roof is leaking and there is structural damage,” he said.

Peach said since 2020, no progress has been made.

“This monument is a cautionary tale to the department and shows a clear lack of competent planning and technical execution,” he said.

“The department needs to answer why the contractor appointed got the job and why it was not managed in a way that was conducive to a usable end product.”

Peach said the ideal would be to fix up the building so it could become a cornerstone tourism destination for the people of Tshwane and all women.