Plan to convert old post office into council chambers

The 100-memberBuffalo City Metrocouncil, with its seat currently at the East London City Hall, could get a new home. The city is looking into acquiring an old, abandoned and slightly vandalised historic building in the city centre to possibly use as the new council chambers. It is making serious moves to acquire the 99-year-old abandoned East LondonPost Officebuilding in Oxford Street.

Mayor Princess Fakuconfirmed at the weekend that they had initiated talks with the public works department to hand over the building, to be under the metro’s control. The plan is to establish a proper state-of-the-art permanent council chamber, possibly to be the new metro political headquarters, away from the 127-year old city hall. BCM council meetings have, over the years, been hosted in a makeshift chamber at the city hall.

Should the dream to acquire the post office building become a reality, the city’s human settlements department could also be housed there, Faku said, saving ratepayers millions of rand in rent for privately-owned premises it is now leasing. The aim is also to rescue the heritage building in the city centre from further deterioration and collapse, illegal occupation by vagrants and being used as a crime den. Faku revealed that the city was also looking into acquiring control of the now vandalised and dilapidated post office in Qonce, one of the flagship landmarks in the area and now a shadow of its former self, for the establishment of a possible artists’ retreat centre.

[paywall]

Faku was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting held by public works MEC Siphokazi Lusithi with various mayors from the province at the East London Golf Club on Friday. “We appreciate this engagement with the MEC of public works because there are a lot of dilapidated buildings belonging to provincial and national public works in the city, especially in the Qonce area,” she said. “We’ve made a proposal to the department that we want to take over that post office in [Qonce] and develop it into a place where we can put in SMMEs [small and medium enterprises] that are going to be doing fashion design products, which they can showcase in that building.

[/paywall]