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Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo’s former offices are at the centre of a row between the family that owns the building and the Johannesburg Heritage Trust. Based in the Johannesburg CBD at Chancellor House, Mandela & Tambo was the only firm of African lawyers in SA during the 1950s. It provided thousands of people with legal representation during a period when apartheid laws were draconian.

Recently the name Chancellor House has been made prominent by a controversial ANC-aligned company, which is named after the building.

Given its historical significance Chancellor House should be celebrated as an important heritage site.

Instead, it continues to fall into ruin and the uncertainty over its fate has grown following the collapse of protracted negotiations between the Essa family, which owns the building, and the Johannesburg Heritage Trust, which wants to redevelop it.

Neil Fraser, the trust’s chairman, says he was surprised when he received a letter a few weeks ago from the Essa family’s legal representative, Ismail Ayob, calling off the negotiations.

The negotiations for Chancellor House have been on the go for four years but Fraser declines to say why they have taken so long or what the trust was offering. He does not see a quick end to the impasse.

“I don’t think there is another step forward,” says a resigned Fraser.

Ayob blames Fraser and the trust for the breakdown in the negotiations.

“The Essa family does not think the Johannesburg Heritage Trust is a serious buyer,” he says.

Ayob says the trust asked for an extension on an offer to buy, instead of concluding a deal, indicating a lack of effort on its part.

While neither Ayob nor Fraser were prepared to say what the trust was offering, the City of Johannesburg approved a R300000 contribution to the development of a tourism centre at Chancellor House in 2004. So what is the building’s fate? There is little chance of it being demolished because it is protected by the National Heritage Resources Act. - Larry Claasen

Source: Financial Mail