Infrastructure
With regard to the sale of the Princess Hall in Walmer Estate:
- Whether the Princess Hall in the Walmer Estate has been sold; if so, (a) when was it put to tender, (b) how many responded, (c) to whom was the tender awarded and (c) was there any mention of this site being a heritage property;
- whether the community of Walmer Estate was informed about the sale; if not, why not; if so, (a) what are the relevant details and (b) can a full report with documented minutes be made available?
(1) Erf 12455 Cape Town, on which Princess Hall is located, was sold via direct sale to Indoni Dance Arts and Leadership Academy after they approached the Department in order to acquire the unused hall, to renovate it and use it as an academy.
(a) The proposed alienation of property was advertised for comment, in line with the disposal policy, in The Argus and Die Burger on 21 November 2018 and in the Southern Suburbs Tatler on 22 November 2018.
(b) Four individual objections and one from the Walmer Estate Residence Community Forum were received.
(c) The Property was sold to Indoni Dance Arts and Leadership Academy.
(d)[Wrongly listed as a second c] The deed of sale made no mention of the property’s heritage status, or lack thereof.
(2) The broader community was informed of the proposed alienation of the hall via advertisements in The Argus, Die Burger and in the Southern Suburbs Tatler.
(a) Four individual objections and one from the Walmer Estate Residence Community Forum (WERCF) were received. The objectors argued that the sale of the hall to a private entity is contrary to the duties of Provincial Government to provide community facilities; the inability of the community to utilise the hall once it is in private ownership; the inability of the Department to police the use of the hall by Indoni; and the inability of the Department to prevent the resale of the property for profit. The WERCF requested that the Department dismiss the sale of the property to Indoni and instead sell/transfer the property to them, once they have been registered as an NGO. Their proposal included the development of a basketball court, seminar rooms, rentable office space and meeting rooms as well as a main hall. The hall had fallen into disrepair and had not been used as a community facility for many years. The objections were dismissed as the hall could still be utilised by the community even if in private ownership after being renovated. WERCF’s counter proposal was dismissed, as WERCF was not registered as an NGO nor had the funds to purchase and upgrade the property. The proposal was also seen as a business proposal and would only benefit the NGO, not the community.
(b) There are no documented minutes.
