The Tshwane Metro Council is planning to implode the problematic Schubart Park flats to make way for a new housing project and shopping complex which will form part of the West Capital initiative.
It is expected that the West Capital project – which will link the inner city with Marabastad – will inject millions of rand into the city’s economy.
It is not clear when the project will begin and when the planned implosion will take place.
One of the projects identified by the municipality as part of the West Capital initiative is the provision of accommodation for students.
The sites identified by the municipality for the development of the accommodation are in Struben, Potgieter, Schubart, Bosman and Boom streets and are currently used by a number businesses which include a panel-beating workshop, a scrap yard (for the council’s emergency vehicles), a pharmacy and a car parts outlet.
The member of the mayoral committee for housing and sustainable settlements, Joshua Ngonyama, said the implosion of Schubart Park would see the municipality ridding the city of “colossal, unsafe buildings”.
According to a structural engineering report compiled by the Nguko professional team for the council, the buildings are not suitable for refurbishment due to a number of reasons. This includes the fact that they do not comply with current building codes and standards and it is not practical to make them compliant.
Executive mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said at the council’s monthly meeting: “We are going to be bold and decisive (in implementing the decision to implode). Many of our decisions are going to be unpopular.”
Ramokgopa said the council’s decision to evacuate the Schubart Park tenants was due to fears of injuries they could sustain as a result of the unstable buildings.
He added that the municipality had commissioned independent experts to check the structural integrity of the buildings.
According to Ramokgopa, the experts found that the buildings were not suitable for human habitation.
Ngonyama said it would be irresponsible of the council “to allow people to live in such an unsafe and unhealthy building”. “The demolition of the building is a dedicated effort… to provide mixed use accommodation in the area.”
Ngonyama said there was a major opportunity in the west of the city to establish social housing as there was plenty of land available.
He said the Supreme Court of Appeal had turned down an application by the Schubart Park tenants to appeal against last year’s Pretoria High Court decision which gave council permission to evacuate the building. “This paves the way for us to implode this building which is structurally unstable,” he said.
But lawyers representing the former tenants of Schubart Park maintain that there is nothing wrong with the building.
Lawyer Louise du Plessis said the structural engineer whom they commissioned to check the building had found that there was nothing wrong with it. “He knows Schubart Park well and according to him, there is no water damage to the building,” she said.
It was just a question of maintaining the building – “this is a maintenance issue”, she said.
The council’s engineering report found that the structural integrity of the buildings could not be guaranteed and there was no real economic benefit for the council in refurbish them. It was also found that the fire escape routes weren’t adequate and that increasing the number of occupants from 450 to 700 (excluding the lower three levels) would cause added congestion.
Schubart Park tenants were evacuated by the municipality after a court order issued by Pretoria High Court Judge Bill Prinsloo on October 3 last year. This was followed by an application lodged on behalf of the residents by Lawyers for Human Rights. The residents were involved in a violent stand-off with the police while protesting last September against water and electricity cuts.
The buildings had been declared unfit for habitation and the municipality’s efforts to refurbish had proved fruitless.
The reasons:
* The structural integrity of the buildingS cannot be guaranteed.
* Unsuitable design in terms of safety, people accommodation and current energy requirements.
* No real economic benefit for the council should the buildingS be refurbished.
* The buildings are not compliant with applicable legislation/codes and standards and it is not practical to make them compliant.
Brief History
The Schubart Park complex was built by the National Housing Board in the 1980s as a state-subsidised rental scheme, with tenants paying rent in accordance with their income.
The complex became the responsibility of the Pretoria City Council in 1999 and the buildings – and the nearby Kruger Park – were in a serious state of disrepair.
The management of the complex had, since devolution and until 2005, been contracted to City Property.
A new municipal entity, Housing Company Tshwane (formed in 2001), later took over the management of the flats.
Schubart Park is a complex of four high-rise blocks of flats – blocks A, B, C and D. The complex had a number of excellent recreational facilities including a swimming pool, tennis courts and community hall. It also had a number of shops.
Pretoria News