Schubart Park remains an eyesore years later

Years later and a legal spat between the Tshwane metro and developers means that the Schubart Park buildings remain an empty eyesore in the Pretoria CBD.

Today, the once vibrant apartment block lies dormant with not much indication as to when the buildings will be open again – despite more than a decade of planned refurbishments.

The park was originally built in the 1970s as part of a state-subsidiary programme, which assisted lower-earning households by allowing them to pay rent according to their income. The metro took over the park in 1999 and continued to accommodate the lower-earning residents though the buildings began decaying.

By September 2011, water and electricity had been cut off from the now overpopulated, deteriorating buildings. Residents were being evicted in their hundreds due to the buildings being declared unsafe. They were then relocated to shelters and homes in the surrounding areas.

In 2012, the constitutional court ordered the metro to refurbish the buildings and reinstate the evicted residents. Ten years on, dogged by legal disputes, plans for refurbishments and continuous delays, the buildings remain abandoned.

In 2013, a billion rand was said to be set aside for a refurbishment project to be completed by 2015.

Last year, a ruling by the Gauteng High Court prevented property developer Singyang Investments from evicting some 300 former Schubert residents from their properties.

In a recent response to an inquiry, the Tshwane municipality said that the metro was in “very advanced stages of litigation processes with the developer to unlock the development of the property” which it blamed for the lack of development in Schubart Park.

The developer in question is West Capital Development, which the metro says owns part of Schubart Park. The legal row between the parties dates back years although the metro is committed to its refurbishment and sees it as an asset that is “strategic to running the inner city regeneration programme”.

The metro did not provide clear information on when the renovations would be taking place, how long it would take or how much it would cost.

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