Another site has been added to Johannesburg's ever-growing list of heritagesites, with the official opening of the restored Drill Hall on 11 June.
Presiding over the occasion, Johannesburg's executive mayor Amos Masondodescribed the Drill Hall as "a nerve of struggle and political activity".
It was here that in 1956, 156 leaders of the liberation movement, includingAlbert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, appearedon charges of treason when the complex served as a courtroom.
"Bus boycotters from Alexandra and Evaton came to the Drill Hall toconsult on whether to keep on walking or accept a compromise offer on theirfares," Masondo added.
The Drill Hall was built in 1904 and was used by the military until1992. The recruitment and mobilization of the army for both world warswas conducted from the building.
The complex is one of the development portfolios managed by the JohannesburgDevelopment Agency (JDA), a City agency that seeks to stimulate and supportarea-based economic development initiatives throughout the Johannesburgmetropolitan area in support of the Joburg 2030 vision.
The Drill Hall is already the headquarters of the Rand Light Infantry,and also houses Johannesburg Child Welfare Society, the Johannesburg CommunityChest and the Joubert Park Project.
Zakes Myeza, JDA's acting CEO, said that "sensitivity to the historicsignificance of the Drill Hall was top of our minds when the site was conceptualised",and it was particularly pleasing that project architect Michael Hart hadreceived a merit award from Architecture South African journal for hisconcept and design of the hall.
Mayoral committee member in charge of inner city development, Sol Cowan,outlined some of the complex challenges facing the City but reiteratedthat the inner city was on a firm footing. "Some of these challenges areeasy to describe and quantify, while others have more to do with perceptionsthan hard facts," he said.
Cowan discussed the five pillars on which the Inner City RegenerationProgramme rests:
- intensive urban management;
- upgrading and maintenance of infrastructure within the City;
- the Inner City Regeneration Programme;
- sinkholes, which are properties that are degraded, poorly maintained andovercrowded; and
- ripple effect investments, which are the opposite of sinkholes - developmentsthat help uplift surrounding areas.
Between the official speeches, a community drama group performed a depictionof South Africa's history, demonstrating the brutality of apartheid andthe path to democracy. Singing political slogans from days gone by andwaving three flags from different eras - the Union Jack, the old SouthAfrican flag, and the new South African flag - the group reminded the audienceof their right to be "proudly South African".
A special guest was Caroline Motswaledi, wife of the late Elias Motswaledione of the treason trialists. Motswaledi described how she had sufferedduring apartheid and was detained while five months pregnant with her firstchild. "But I am lucky," she added, "because some people died while I amstill alive and well."
Elias Motswaledi died on 10 May 1994, the day South Africa's first democraticallyelected president was inaugurated.
Johannesburg News Agency
Publisher: Business Day
Source: Business Day
