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Once a beacon of hope, Kliptown Square is now a vandalised, neglected shell under the Joburg Property Company’s neglectful care.
The Soweto Hotel and Conference Centre is seen on 12 February 2021 in Kliptown, Soweto. Situated at Freedom Square, the hotel could close its doors due to vandalism and theft of electric cables in the area. It initially opened in 2007. Picture: Michel Bega
Anywhere else, it would be an astounding example of incompetence and neglect were a municipal property company to say it has to “regenerate” an important national historic site decaying after just 20 years.
Yet, the Joburg Property Company is doing just that to the memorial at Kliptown Square in Johannesburg … never mind that the site has fallen into disrepair on its watch – and while it is responsible for its upkeep.
Kliptown Square should be one of the most iconic sites to commemorate the liberation struggle, because this was the place of the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955 – a pledge to make this country a better, more equal, place for all its people.
Now, according to vendors who struggle to ply their trade there, it is in a state of neglect, vandalism and filth. It’s a far cry from the idealistic construction opened with much fanfare in 2005 by the then president Thabo Mbeki.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Tensions high in Kliptown over disconnections [VIDEO]
The business centre is stripped of its roof, electricity and plumbing.
When the businesses moved out, the homeless moved in.
This now is what tourists will see when they come to experience the country that people like Nelson Mandela sacrificed so much for.
We should be ashamed.
NOW READ: WATCH: Kliptown residents ‘live in squalor’ despite historic connections
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