As we celebrate Women’s Month, it is sad that the Women’s Living Heritage Monument in Tshwane is still not fully operational.
This Women’s Living Heritage Monument was erected to honour and commemorate our women who have played a pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid.
This state-of-the-art monument that cost over R200 million was completed in 2018 and almost R80 million has been spent on getting this facility operational.
To date, this monument continues to be non-operational due to shoddy work.
The DA conducted an oversight inspection at the monument and was shocked to discover that the roof is leaking, the lifts are not working, and the fire hydrants are not working.
The internal offices meant for the City of Tshwane are small and are not a conducive working environment.
Furthermore, we discovered that the statues of our nation’s female heroines were hidden in the kitchen and are not being used to teach the youth and tourists about our history.
This monument is not serving its purpose and its high time that the MEC of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR), Mbali Hlophe fix the shoddy work which is hindering this building from getting its occupational certificate.
We demand the MEC Hlophe prioritises fixing the shoddy work and ensures that an occupational certificate is obtained as soon as possible. This monument has huge potential to grow the local economy and create employment opportunities in the tourism sector.