Magistrate’s court won’t be moving to Ladanna

POLOKWANE – The Polokwane magistrate’s court will no longer move to Ladanna while the department of public works continues with the restoration of the court building in the city, which was gutted by a fire in October 2012.

A tender was issued by the department of public works inviting prospective landlords in Polokwane to provide a building that could be used as an interim magistrate’s court.

Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesperson for the department of justice, said two buildings were identified as suitable.

“These were the Nedbank building in Landdros Maré Street, covering 1 700m² and it is privately owned. The Ladanna building in Platinum Street covers 1 600m² and is owned by the provincial government,” he said.

According to Mhaga, it was agreed that the Nedbank building would accommodate the court’s administration and prosecution personnel. He added that tenant installation was going ahead at the Nedbank building and occupation took place in August and September last year.

The option of securing the Ladanna building as an alternative accommodation was abandoned as the building had a security risk and overcoming this problem would cost a lot of money.

“The building would have needed a lot of breakages and construction of new walls both internally and externally, refitting of electro-mechanical network and other fitting. In all fairness this turned out to be capital work in nature and therefore these options were not physically viable and financially feasible,” Mhaga explained.

In addition to this, the department moved certain courts to Mankweng, Bochum and Ga-Matlala.

“The department of public works was instructed to urgently continue with the restoration of the burned building. In terms of the project execution plan, the project is likely to be completed by May 1, 2015,” Mhaga said.