Vagrants roam in dilapidated R3.7m ‘hotel school’
● They were meant to be used to train local community members in new skills, but instead two properties worth R3.7m that a mining company donated to the North West department of tourism have been left to rot.
The buildings, in the mining town of Orkney, have been stripped of copper cables, geysers and other equipment.
The properties were donated by AngloGold Ashanti in 2015 and the tourism department promised to turn them into a hotel school with accommodation for students.
But when the Sunday Times visited the buildings this week, they were empty and rundown. A new fence and a security guard barred entry, but a local resident said the buildings had until recently been occupied by vagrants.
The resident said that soon after AngloGold Ashanti handed over the buildings, the department of tourism bought furniture, including heavy-duty stoves, beds and mattresses, for the school. But vagrants stole some of the items and ripped out geysers and cables.
The source said that before the fence was erected people had found it easy to break through the precast cement boundary wall. For years grass and weeds had grown wild.
“There are stoves there, mattresses and other equipment for the hotel school, but not a single student ever came to study here,” said the source.
AngloGold Ashanti had used the two buildings as a training facility for engineering students and staff, and for adult education for members of the community.
Tshegofatso Pheto, 29, of Matlosana in nearby Klerksdorp, is one of many unemployed young people in the North West.
“Mines are closing down and many young people who hoped that they will work in the mines have turned to crime these days. The hotel school was to help us and give us skills before we leave for bigger cities to look for work,” said Pheto.
Ofentse Motladiile, 28, of Potchefstroom, which is 40km away, said the school was a good idea as there were no colleges or community training centres in the area.
“Three years later the school is not open, that’s a waste of money. It was a good idea as we lack colleges and training centres in the area. If you drive around here, you will notice that young people have no jobs and they have nothing to do, at least the school would have helped a lot,” said Motladiile.
Provincial tourism spokesperson Dineo Lolokwane said contracts to the tune of R13.7m to renovate the donated building had been awarded.
“Work will commence on or before the end of this financial year. The building has been secured by a security company to avoid vandalism, while awaiting renovations that will restore it to be habitable and ready for learning and training.
“The envisaged hotel school will be developing and training young people in hotel administration, hospitality and many other courses related to the tourism industry.”
She said the department had cleaned the area around the buildings earlier in the year.
Tourism MEC Desbo Mohono said she was “pleased” at progress in getting the buildings to be fully functional.
“Tender processes have been completed to ensure that work commences. The department has already awarded five tenders to renovate the office building, the house and the kitchen. Other tenders awarded include supply and installation of security fences in both buildings,” she said.
She said her department was “operating on a shoestring budget” which was why it had taken a while to kick-start the process.
DA MP Joe McGluwa, who previously led the party in the province, called it “a disgrace” that what should have been a stateof-the-art training facility had been allowed to go to waste in a province where unemployment was running at 43.3%.
“This facility could have played a key role in skills development, training, and creating access to jobs,” he said.
AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson Chris Nthite said the donation of the buildings was in line with the company’s policy of allowing unused or underutilised infrastructure to be used for the benefit of all its stakeholders.