Old Joe demolished over the weekend and pieces to be sold at auction
TRAC confirmed that the remnants of Old Joe will be sold on auction to raise funds for the Mbombela Municipality in their attempt to improve the roads.
The City of Mbombela Local Municipality surprised the Lowveld community over the weekend by demolishing Old Joe.
This led to a nervous breakdown of local commercial artist Wouter De Wit also known as Ghost, who was responsible for painting the iconic man-like stone on the N4 Toll Route to the Lowveld. Situated at Patattanek at the top of Schoemanskloof, many locals and tourists have come to love Old Joe and look out for his various painted outfits.
“We sponsored Ghost for years to paint Old Joe and we were not even informed of the decision to demolish him,” said a very emotional TRAC spokesperson, Solange Soares Nicholson.
Pottie Potgieter, general manager of Buco Nelspruit, was outraged when he heard the news. “Old Joe is part of the tapestry of the Lowveld”, he said. “To find out that he was demolished without giving the community a chance to voice their opinion breaks my heart.”
When asked if he would be bidding on any pieces of Old Joe in the auction, Potgieter refused to comment.
ALSO READ: Be part of keeping TRAC of Old Joe
Emnotweni Casino also expressed their concern over the way this situation was handled. Adam MacIntyre, General Manager at Emnotweni, pointed out that Old Joe was a popular tourist attraction and that many visitors from Gauteng on their way to the Lowveld would stop to take a selfie with Old Joe.
We were all shocked to hear that Old Joe has been demolished, a Lowveld icon who has been loved and who has looked over the Schoemanskloof travellers since 1927. Surely there must have been a less destructive way to raise Municipal funds? This is a sad day for us all, said Adam MacIntyre.
ALSO READ: The many guises of Old Joe
“This will definitely have an impact on our province and it’s possible that people take alternative routes as the iconic man-like painted stone is no more”, said a spokesperson of Nkomazi Fuel & Oil, who was part of the Old Joe collectors item project in 2017.
ALSO READ: Keeping TRAC of Old Joe with Nkomazi Fuel & Oil
Read Tuesday’s edition of the Lowvelder to find out more about the Old Joe’s auction and how the Municipality demolished Old Joe in the early hours of the morning.
