Members of the DA together with community leaders conducted an oversight visit at Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown on September 10.
The visit comes after the place was damaged and vandalised in 2021 during the July unrest and lockdown.
The heritage site was known to be a vibrant hub of activities and a tourist attraction. However, it has not been seen as such for a while.
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Kingsol Chabalala, DA Shadow MEC for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) in Gauteng said the whole point of the visit is to inspect the heritage site.
“This square is a significant heritage site in our country and it holds so much history,” said Chabalala.
“On a previous visit, it was found that the place was abandoned and this means that economically it has hurt those who run small businesses.”
Chabalala added when they got here they found out that there was no water and electricity and this also had an impact on the Soweto Hotel, another tourist site.
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The hotel is where most of the support for the square came from and if it does not have those basic needs then it cannot be run effectively.
Member of the Provincial Legislature, Leanne de Jager, said in the past the DA used to rent the place as a tourist attraction.
She said they later discovered that the place was not fit enough to carry so many people who came to visit the site.
“We discovered that it could never hold several people meaning that it was a security risk. We have to make sure that this area is secured again,” said De Jager.
“We have been here several times and I have bought entities from different departments.
“All of them took notes and have to contribute to ensure that it goes back to its original state and nothing has been done since then. We only see fencing being done for R15m,” said DA councillor, Vasco da Gama.
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He went on to say that security also needs to get beefed up. Fencing, water and electricity are currently being worked on by the contractors and the DA members promised that they will be back again to inspect.
Chabalala added, “We will not give up on exposing this and other monuments and heritage sites as these are assets that need to be treasured for generations to come.”
