Pretoria - The iconic Tshwane Events Centre, commonly known as the Pretoria Showgrounds,will in future make way for construction of a hotel as part of the proposed R1.5 billion redevelopment.
Council last week approved a report for the facility to be turned into a mixed-use commercial precinct comprising a hotel, conference facility, and residential, commercial and exhibition use.
According to the report, the envisaged development would require more than R1.5bn in investment.
For years, the property was leased to prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering church, which paid between R800 000 and R1 million a month to use it.
While other political parties supported the proposal, the EFF in Tshwane expressed reservations about the building of a hotel and retail shops at the centre.
Party former chairperson Moafrika Mabogwana took issue with the proposal, citing that it was not going to bring meaningful economic changes to the people.
“We think, as the EFF, that the envisaged economic activities are not going to bring meaningful economic changes to our people.
“We have noted, as highlighted in the report, that you want to bring retail activities. You want to build a hotel and a conference centre,” he said.
He said it was not a good idea to be “speaking about building a hotel in a city where we have most of the hotels that are running as white elephants”.
“There’s a hotel in Arcadia which has been turned into a residence because of lack of tourism in the city. You can’t be speaking about retail businesses because retail is just English. It means building a mall,” Mabogwana said.
He questioned the proposal for constructing a mall while there were already four malls “within the radius of 2km” from the centre.
“What will be the point of building an additional mall? It is for that reason that as the EFF we are proposing that let’s use the precinct to expand industrialisation and link that industrialisation to the procurement of the city,” said Mabogwana.
He said the expansion of industrialisation would benefit young people studying at local institutions of higher learning.
The MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, Kingsley Wakelin, expressed optimism about the imminent project, saying it would “unlock the development of the showgrounds and enhance the City’s revenue-generating efforts as the development will be based on a turnover lease model”.
“In addition to the revenue value, the revitalisation of Pretoria Showgrounds is an integral part of the City’s objective to facilitate investment and rehabilitate the inner city,” he said.
The 39-hectare property used to be under Tshwane Business and Agricultural Corporation, but it was last year reclaimed by the City of Tshwane after it had been in the hands of the company since 1995.
That followed the City’s lengthy legal fight with the entity, which at some point wanted to sell the property when it could no longer afford to run it due to financial difficulties.
At some stage the company was in arrears of municipal rates and taxes amounting to about R12 258 275 and it had initially wanted to sell the property for R211m to be able to service its debts.
Wakelin said: “Since then, extensive work has been undertaken to determine the highest and best use options for the property. A comprehensive precinct development plan has been developed which envisages a mixed-use commercial precinct comprising a hotel, conference facility, and residential, commercial and exhibition uses.”
He said the City’s Group Property will now embark on an open and transparent competitive bidding process to invite proposals to partner with the private sector through a 50-year development lease agreement.
The lease was not renewable.
In May, the Pretoria News reported that the centre – valued at more than R500m – was under attack from vandals, who stole almost every electric cable, leaving the place in the dark and forcing security guards to use torches during their night patrols.
Pretoria News