Tshwane building a house of mysteries
PRETORIA: White men dressed in black with cloaks wrapped around their shoulders and black hoods covering their heads.
This was the bizarre drama that unfolded in front of employees of the City of Tshwane at the Ou Raadsaal building last Friday night.
This, along with the explanation that the group members were “ghost whisperers”, left the workers shaken. The city has since launched an investigation to establish who gave the group permission to use the building.
The workers in the historic building, which overlooks Church Square, were told of how the group “interacted with ghosts of the leaders of the government of the past”.
The mystery deepened as the workers waited outside the building while the group spent three hours in the dark inside the building. “It was like watching a horror movie, only I was in it,” said a fearful municipal employee who asked not to be named.
A group of council staff had been working late in the old but well-maintained build- ing when security personnel asked everyone to leave because there were people waiting to get inside.
“They told us the group had been waiting since their 8pm pre-arranged time, and we had delayed them by 30 minutes,” said another employee.
Adamant security guards bundled the workers out without giving them a chance to get their belongings or lock offices.
The staffers watched in disbelief as the group of about 60 people carrying forks, a suitcase and bottles of alcohol gathered at the door and entered in perfect formation.
A bell on the building’s roof top rang out once, and again five minutes later.
Next all the lights were switched off and the whole building went dark.
Security was called out to explain what was going on, and told council officials that the visitors came around every month on a Friday. They gave the name of a city official who had given them permission. The person’s name is known to the Cape Times’s sister paper the Pretoria News.
Police were contacted, but only arrived three hours later. They entered the dark build- ing with torches, after which the leader of the group emerged.
In a conversation, which was recorded, he explained their mission, which he said started 15 years ago.
He said they visited a number of buildings around the city, which housed the spirits of leaders of the old regime.
This included the “master place” – the Palace of Justice.
Ou Raadsaal was the seat of Volksraad, the government at the end of the 19th century, which was led by Paul Kruger.
The leader of the group counted that among the “ghosts” they interacted with included that of Kruger, and said they had monthly sessions with them which meant no harm to anyone.
City regulations do not allow this kind of activity, nor church services, parties or anything outside of work in municipal buildings outside of normal working times.
Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “The city will institute an investigation to find out who gave those people permission and access to our building, and that is assuming that they had any permission.”