Demolished brick by brick
The Old Spar building, better known as the Driehoek Spar, in the Springs CBD, is currently being demolished, but not by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
Comment received from the metro in August, in regards to the demolition of the building, states “we received an email dated August 27 from an attorney responsible for the building, in which they confirm they will receive a quote for the required work before the end of this week.” (September 4).
To date no further information from either party has been received by the Addie.
However, members of Afriforum’s Selfhelp initiative stepped in to try and solve the problem.
Richardt Lubbe, from Springs Afriforum, says the initiative is a clear sign that the community of Springs is tired of the decay and deterioration of the town.
“To do it yourself creates hope and confidence of the future,” he says.
This building has been prioritized by the Springs branch of Afriforum since 2011 to ensure that the dilapidated building be demolished because the owner had vacated the building and allowed it to fall into despair.
“It is deteriorated to such an extent that it posed a danger to the health of people in the area due to the refuse being dumped inside the building,” says Lubbe.
He adds it also has a negative impact on businesses in the area due to the drug and prostitution problems that allegedly occur at the empty building.
Afriforum lodged a case in the Pretoria High Court.
After a protracted battle, the court finally granted the order, instructing the owner to demolish the building, on March 31, and everyone gave a sigh of relief.
According to Lubbe, if the owner failed to adhere to the order, the metro would be obliged to instruct the Springs’ sheriff to oversee the demolition.
When no further action was taken, either by the owner to metro, members of the Springs Afriforum branch decided that the demolition of the building would be their do-it-yourself initiative, within the boundaries of the law.
Lubbe says the demolition of the building, being conducted by a third party, has been going on for almost three weeks and they are monitoring the situation.
Business owners in the area are all relieved that the building is being demolished.
One business owner says what they have seen and experienced, since the building became vacant a few years ago, is terrible, not to mention the rat infestation.
He claims they regularly had to put out rat poison in the empty building and couldn’t take the stench coming from the building where refuse was being dumped on a regular basis.
The metro is yet to comment after the Addie sent questions two weeks ago.
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