[Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Joburg’s Metro Centre in Braamfontein is starting to look post-apocalyptic: deserted, decaying, and littered with abandoned office files, furniture, and pricey equipment that taxpayers are still footing the bill for.
Civic activists are fuming, calling it yet another glaring sign that the city’s infrastructure is on life support and its leadership is floundering.
When The Citizen showed up to investigate, they were met with a brick wall, aka “aggressive” security guards who, ironically, were only posted there after squatters decided to move in a few weeks ago.
The surrounding area also looked like a disaster zone with broken paving and shattered windows – basically Joburg’s answer to urban decay bingo.
This week, City of Joburg mayor Dada Morero finally broke the silence, announcing that the Metro Centre “will undergo extensive refurbishment through a public-private partnership.”
Translation: They’re throwing money – a whopping R3.2 billion, to be exact – at a 50-year-old structure that’s already been condemned as inhabitable and in violation of several regulations and Acts.
ActionSA was already raising red flags back in December when city staff were shuffled off to rented buildings, leaving behind not just desks and chairs but copiers, IT assets, and other pricey office gear.
“The City of Joburg failed to ensure that these items were secured and moved to a safe environment for future use. This is a disgraceful failure of governance and resource management.
“What is more shocking is that the city is paying for leased copiers abandoned at the Metro Centre. This is an outrageous misuse of taxpayers’ money.”
For four months, the once-bustling Metro Centre has stood empty, a hollow shell of its former self. Meanwhile, just metres away, President Cyril Ramaphosa recently gave a speech in the council chambers about Joburg’s crumbling state. The irony is almost too rich.
Mark Heywood from the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance pointed out the obvious: “Since the closure, Joburg officials have been scattered across different buildings citywide, paying exorbitant rents while becoming less accessible to the public.
“On top of that, essential documentation and furniture remain inside the building. It’s sheer recklessness.”
The Metro Centre wasn’t just shut down, it was abandoned to the elements. Heywood says the situation has gone from bad to worse, with a total breakdown of security.
“The Metro Centre has been raided by homeless people. Allowing infrastructure to decline to this level is unacceptable.”
Julia Fish, regional manager of JoburgCAN, says the Metro Centre fiasco is just a symptom of Joburg’s larger financial and maintenance meltdown.
“For example, the Metro Centre’s closure resulted in a revenue loss of R500 000 because building plans could no longer be sold and another R1.2 million was lost on geo-information services sales.
“The cost of fixing the Metro Centre has now ballooned beyond what it would cost to construct a new building. Residents need to ask whether this is by design.
“If Johannesburg continues on this trajectory, it will face significant economic decline and potential collapse.”
The city that was once Africa’s powerhouse is now a case study in mismanagement. Unless someone takes the wheel, Joburg might just become the next great ghost town.
[Source: The Citizen]
