Dineo Setsetse has watched in despair as the once-grand multi-storey Soweto Hotel building in Kliptown falls into decay with moss encrusting the walls from a flooded underground parking.
Setsetse, general manager of the hotel in the historic Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, said for six years now, their efforts to bring travellers to the area using its attractive heritage have been drowned. The hotel is surrounded by rot and disrepair and there is litter everywhere.
The Kliptown railway station is now a deserted ghost station which has been stripped bare. Around the square, parts of the bricks used for paving have been stolen and overgrown weeds have covered pavement walks.
Cables are hanging on the walls as evidence that thieves visited the square again to help themselves to copper and anything they could get their hands to.
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Such is the state of ruin that big businesses that were once housed at the square have left according to Sbu Ngwenya who runs Nobantu Phone and Internet Café at the square.
“I can say there is no management here. To me this place is a lost opportunity. This is a tourism jewel. The place has a lot of potential. It just needs proper management for it to thrive again,” Ngwenya said.
Ngwenya’s business provides the much needed services in the township. The youth visit his café to do research, make copies of documents and also to look for job opportunities. Surfing the internet is just R8 an hour.
The two major tenants left at the square are the four-star Soweto Hotel and the licensing department.
“Between the square and the railway, on the left that used to be an overflow parking for the square and the hotel. It is a bush now. There was paving there but the people of Kliptown came and removed it. They used to come during the day and remove the paving, particularly in 2019. They have started to remove paving on the square now," said Setsetse.
“The underground parking which has about 160 parking bays is flooded. There is water there, a problem we have had for six years.
“Would you like to sleep in a hotel where you know that your car is parked outside? Because of the water in the underground parking we have to spend extra cash providing something to fumigate rooms to ensure that guests are not bitten by mosquitos.”
It was in this spot that in 1955, about 3,000 ant-apartheid activist adopted the Freedom Charter which became the cornerstone of the ANC polices and a foundation of the country’s constitution which is admired worldwide.
On June 26 2005, then president Thabo Mbeki lit a flame of freedom in Kliptown to mark the opening of the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication – and 50 years of the Freedom Charter.
One of the first tenants at the square was the Soweto Hotel.
But now, the hotel which used to be fully booked is struggling as there are hardly any people who book the facility for events.
Setsetse said the unavailability of this parking means her guests have to park their vehicles outside, something they are not comfortable with. Electricity supply in the area has also become intermittent and it has nothing to do with loadshedding but cable theft, according to Setsetse.
“The hotel spends a fortune on generators to keep electricity [on]. At night there are no lights at the square. This affects every single tenant on the square. Johannesburg Property Company is aware of this."
With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the tourism sector, the hotel which was already struggling has found itself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Setsetse said her 18 staff members have to work on rotational shifts just to ensure that none of them lose their jobs. But with the state of affairs around Kliptown and its decay, she fears for the worst if nothing is done to turn things around with services.
“I have jobs to protect here. We are trying very hard together with the owners to keep the place open although I meet these challenges.
“If the situation does not improve, the owners of the hotel will have to decide [what to do]. But government says they do not want us to go out [of business]. This is a black female-owned business,” she said.
The Johannesburg Property Company which is responsible for upkeep of the square had not responded to request for comment at the time of going to print.
Kliptown is the historic site of the adoption of the Freedom Charter. The square was named after Walter Sisulu who was a delegate at the 1955 gathering.
Recently, prominent Soweto arts practitioner, Nomsa Manaka, threatened to close her dance education studio at the square after several break-ins and vandalism.
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