Drill Hall Citichat 12 April 2002

CITICHAT 14/2002 12th April 2002


Drill Hall

Johannesburg’s Drill Hall - a building that encapsulates the full range of the city’s chequered history. Built in 1904 as the headquarters for the Transvaal Volunteers during the city’s colonial period, it remained in military hands from Union in 1910 right through to 1985. The building featured prominently during the strikes in 1922 when it headquartered the troops used to quell the riots. It was identified with the apartheid regime due to its use in 1957 at the start of the Treason Trial which was later relocated to Pretoria ‘for security reasons’. In “Long Walk to Freedom”, Nelson Mandela records; “It was a great barn of a building, with a corrugated iron roof, and considered the only public building large enough to support a trial of so many accused.” Gerard-Mark van der Waal in his book, “From Mining Camp to Metropolis” describes the building design as somewhat “removed from the Beaux Arts mode”!

I wrote the following about the Drill Hall just last year (Citichat 41 of 19 October 2001) – “The building is owned by the State which has neglected it to the stage that it is totally overrun by squatters, a haven for gangs and a centre of criminal activity. It is a cess-pit which constitutes a major potential health hazard, a number of fires have resulted in damage and it has been condemned as structurally unsound. Yet the State does nothing!”

A fire had taken place earlier last year, in June, in which nine people had died and the Council committed itself to relocate the largely homeless inhabitants and seal the building off against further invasion. It didn’t happen.

The wise words from one of the great American city practitioners, the late Dan Sweat of Atlanta, came to mind as I looked at the ruins of Drill Hall earlier this week, now substantially destroyed by another fire in which another five people died. “If the city does not deal constructively with the urban poor, the urban poor will deal destructively with the city”. Whilst the loss of a valuable city heritage asset paled into insignificance in relation to the death of five of the city’s citizens, one has to ask oneself why there is no plan to deal with the urban poor.

After last year’s fire the State continued to do nothing. The City Council’s intention to demolish the building two years ago due to an engineer’s report on its lack of structural integrity was challenged by the SA Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA) and the buck appears to have been generously passed around between all the parties ever since. But the squatters stayed and five more died in the blaze on Monday. Last evening’s TV news showed the start of the demolition of the fire damaged structures, only to be halted again by SAHRA. Squatters were claiming the right to move back into the ruins and the Executive Mayor was shown vowing that no-one would move back into the building. (It hasn’t been a good week for our Mayor. Over the weekend his home was attacked by a mob each of whom had had their electricity cut off by the Council due to extended non-payment. They claimed that the provision of free electricity was a right.)

Back to the Drill Hall – so who’s the guilty party? In my mind, firstly, all levels of government for the plight of the homeless appears to not merely be a low priority but is actually off the screen completely. Secondly, the bureaucracy that puts protocols and processes before the lives of people. . Certainly the State’s recalcitrance has been matched by the City’s paralysis and lack of will to rehouse the illegal squatters whilst Provincial Government seem nowhere to be found. Our Justice system appears unable or unwilling to deal with issues that affect the life and death of the poor. “If the city does not deal constructively with the urban poor, the urban poor will deal destructively with the city”

My concern is that Drill Hall is not an isolated example. There are at least ten to twelve other buildings in the inner city that have already been identified as being illegally occupied and a hazard to the city and the occupants. Most have been abandoned long since by their owners and some have become centres for drugs and crime, often occupied by street children high on petrol ‘sniffing’, unbelievably unhygienic, no electricity or water or sewage services. Deathtraps waiting for tragedy to happen. Others, such as one I visited last week, whilst having probably one hundred illegal occupiers and no services, was a model of order and cleanliness. But the people should not be there. Orderly or disorderly, illegal occupation of privately owned buildings whether the owner has fled or not, are not in the interests of the city and decidedly not in the interests of the occupiers in terms of their health and mortality! Some years ago in Philadelphia, Penn., a civil rights movement challenged the right of the authorities to prohibit the city’s pavements being used as homes for the homeless when other alternatives were available. Research produced in the case showed that street people could anticipate a pronounced reduction in life expectancy in comparison to those persons who enjoy shelter. Protecting the rights of people to live on the streets was merely guaranteeing them an early death. By doing nothing about our illegal squatters our authorities are doing virtually the same. What’s the plan? What’s the strategy? Do we have a Joburg 2030 for the urban poor? I know many councillors have a passion for resolving the issues of the poor and who do great work individually against huge odds of indifference and disinterest often handcuffed by bureaucracy. Those that have the heart to provide solutions such as the Johannesburg Homeless Trust, battle for many months and years to receive official support for their efforts. What is it about our world that makes inhumane regimes efficient and democratic government inefficient and unfeeling?

The situation is being further exploited by slum lords. They take advantage of the low prices of the older inner city office buildings and cram as many people as they can into structures not designed for residential occupation without submitting plans or altering the buildings to comply with regulations. For R650.00 per month you share a room with half a dozen others and use communal toilet facilities where one or two toilet cubicles are converted into showers. One such building, already occupied for over a year, does not comply with rational fire design requirements. Nothing is done. Council officials tell me that the process to deal with this situation through the courts will take two to three years! We have no adequate zoning laws. A year ago the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition, recognising the gravity of the situation, offered to pay for fast tracking the development of appropriate new legislation and by-laws. Council says it doesn’t need help, and a year down the track I still haven’t seen a draft nor can I find out when the new bylaws will emerge. A property owner offers to take over derelict buildings in his immediate vicinity and re-instate them at his cost if the council will relocate the inhabitants yet can get no reaction from the authorities. In the meantime the buildings drag down the environment, depreciate the efforts and investments of people who are genuinely working to upgrade the city and the lives of the inhabitants are put at risk.

The end of a heavy week so let’s lighten up as we go from one extreme to the other which is after all what a city is all about! The buck are back in town! Remember the leaping sprinbok artwork that graced the fountain in Oppenheimer Park? About a year ago they were vandalised and Anglo removed them for repair. Well, the restoration is complete and they have been re-erected in Anglo’s Main Street pedestrianised precinct. They look great in their new setting and are worth a visit.

Cheers, neil