Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Leanne De Jager MPL.
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DA backs occupancy certificate for Women’s Living Heritage Monument and demand an opening date.
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R200m monument has remained closed since 2018 amid construction and compliance failures.
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DA will hold Gauteng Government accountable until it opens the monument to the public.
The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng welcomes Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC Lebogang Maile’s recent announcement that the Women’s Living Heritage Monument has finally received its certificate of occupancy from the City of Tshwane. However, we insist that this long-overdue milestone must now be followed by the monument’s immediate opening to the public.
The DA calls on MEC Maile to urgently provide a firm opening date and confirm that the necessary staffing, security, maintenance, and remedial work are in place to ensure the monument can finally open and remain operational.
See video here.
Securing the occupancy certificate is a significant step forward for a facility that, despite costing taxpayers over R200 million, has stood completed but locked to the public since 2018. However, this must not be mistaken for the completion of the government’s responsibility: an occupancy certificate is different from a monument that is open and serving the public. Gauteng residents, particularly the women whose struggle this monument was built to honour, need assurance that the doors will finally open.
It is also worth stating that this outcome is the direct result of years of relentless DA pressure through repeated questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, oversight visits, member statements and media exposure of the monument’s shoddy construction work, fire compliance failures and the endless excuses that kept the facility shuttered for nearly a decade. Had the DA not persisted in holding successive MECs accountable, there is little reason to believe this certificate would exist today.
The DA will continue to monitor this matter closely and hold the Gauteng Provincial Government accountable until the Women’s Living Heritage Monument is finally open and accessible to all.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would have prioritised and expedited the opening of the Women’s Living Heritage Monument, ensuring that it fulfils its purpose of honouring heroines such as Mrs Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, while unlocking its potential to become an important tourism attraction, support surrounding local businesses and create much-needed employment opportunities.