Cape Town - Community groups are furious that they have not been consulted as required about the leasing of the Good Hope Centre after it was revealed that a film company will be occupying the building for most of the rest of this year.
Garreth Bloor, mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development, confirmed that the centre had been “block booked” from August to December, and that in the meantime the lease agreement consultation would be “on hold”.
The Bo-Kaap Civic Association’s Osman Shaboodien said community groups were concerned about the future of the Good Hope Centre.
“Leave Good Hope Centre alone. It’s for the poor,” he said.
The South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) said the council’s public participation process was a “sham”.
Rules for the transfer of municipal assets state that the council must seek comments and any objections from the public before making any final decision at a full sitting of council.
The council has said it would cost R16 million to repair the centre, which is additionally losing R2m a year.
It had therefore decided to lease the building as a temporary film studio to raise funds and create jobs.
However, affected organisations were assured that any temporary lease agreements would only be finalised after an extensive public participation process.
Bloor said the council would reactivate the public participation process in due course.
But Shafick April, the president of the Cape Malay Choir Board, said affected community groups were still waiting to hear when the public participation would take place.
“We have seen nothing in the papers about this, or about the signing of the leases,” he said.
Vendors were informed by the council in April that the venue would no longer be available for hire from July 1, as there were plans to lease the Good Hope Centre to the film sector.
Sactwu handed over a memorandum of protest to the city in April when it was told that the 40th annual Spring Queen Pageant could not be held at the centre.
The union said in its memorandum that it viewed the council’s public participation process as a “sham” as vendors had already been notified earlier this year that the Good Hope Centre would be off-limits from July.
On Tuesday the union’s spokesman Fahmy Abrahams said that the council had told the union that it did not have any legal rights to the Good Hope Centre as the Spring Pageant only used the venue for a limited period each year.
He said Sactwu had then proposed an arbitration process to deal with the impasse.
Cape Argus