‘Make mine a heritage site’

WHEN Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba visited George Harrison Park, he wondered why it had not been turned into a heritage site.

This is because the disused shaft in Langlaagte where some zama zamas (illegal miners) are still trapped is next to the site where gold was discovered by George Harrison in 1886.

The park was declared a national monument in 1944.

Mashaba, who went to the park on Sunday afternoon after the news of the trapped miners broke, said the site had historical significance.

“This is a place we should have preserved; it cannot really be a place where illegal mining takes place. We should be here on a Sunday like this having thousands of international and local people coming to see and experience the foundation of our city.

“Johannesburg was built around mining, gold in particular. Why are we losing this opportunity?”

The mayor said the illegal miners should be working as tour guides and bus drivers.

What Mashaba didn’t know was that in 2009, Central Rand Gold (CRG), which conducts an open mining activity a few metres away, signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a R5 million heritage precinct at the site. But that never happened. Jenny Moodley, a spokeswoman for Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, said that CRG spent only R160 000.

“They committed to the heritage aspect of the park, but only ended up paying for the design of the park,” she said, adding that Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo decommissioned the park a year ago.

“We put up a signboard stating that access was prohibited following concerns over the illegal mining.”

Moodley said the park was under the curatorship of the City of Johannesburg and the provincial heritage body and that City Parks and Zoo was responsible only for its horticultural care. She said CRG excavations on the south side of the adjacent mines left the area exposed to illegal miners, who used the park for access to the shafts.

In 2014 Keith Matier, CRG’s head of geology, said the group wanted to develop the park into a self-sustaining tourism hub, but it became apparent that the area was not suited for that as it was in a semi-industrial zone and known for high crime.