DA denied access to Johannesburg Art Gallery

Closing of gates, hours of waiting, a standoff and verbal exchange between City of Johannesburg community development MMC Tebogo Nkonkou and DA councillors.

This was the drama that unfolded yesterday at the entrance to the Johannesburg Art Gallery, with guards preventing a team of DA councillors, led by the party’s shadow MMC of community development Lyrics Mazibuko, from entering to conduct an urgent oversight visit.

With all gates locked, not even Pikitup employees responsible for cleaning the city were allowed to come through to clock in before the start of their shift in the morning.

Johannesburg Art Gallery gates locked

The public could also not gain access to a health facility inside the gallery precinct.

With no signs of repair work being carried out, Mazibuko and his team appeared determined to enter the gallery to witness “renovations” by the City of Johannesburg – shrouded in secrecy.

With Nkonkou and community development director Apa Pooe unable to respond to questions on repair work progress, budget and procurement processes followed, tension flared up.

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Said Nkonkou: “Are you coming here as a Section 79 oversight committee or the DA?

“Normally, the Section 79 committee chair would lead a visit of that nature.

“Are you coming as individuals or as a party? “You have taken a resolution to come here without the committee chair.”

Tensions flared

Responded DA councillor Bongani Nkwanyana: “You are an executive and you already have a view on how we must conduct our oversight.

“We are a committee and we do not know why we must be questioned by you, because we do not report to you.

“We should be questioning you on what you are doing here – interfering with us in terms of what we are legislated to do. You are interfering MMC and we are going to report you.”

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Nkwanyana said the city ordered the gallery staff and security “to ensure that we are not allowed in”.

“We are not here to order the staff [around] and tell them what to do, but to conduct an oversight,” he maintained.

The DA councillors described it as “appalling to be told by the MMC to follow procedure”.

Councillors ‘appalled’ by MMC

The councillors said they would “do a follow-up to find whether due process was followed in the work said to be taking place”.

Pooe agreed to schedule an oversight meeting with the councillors by Friday.

Once Joburg’s cultural beacon and now a stark symbol of systemic neglect, recent photographs have shown the decaying state of the gallery – a collapsing roof, water leaks, with paint peeling off the walls.

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The iconic 100-year-old gallery building, designed by Edwin Lutyens, has for years apparently not been maintained.

Lack of temperature controls, fire suppression systems and other infrastructure are said to have affected the building.

Due to the impact of heavy rain, water has caused huge damage to the structure of the building situated at Joubert Park in downtown Joburg, fuelling concerns about the condition of priceless art collection.

Concerns about priceless art collection

The gallery houses the largest public art collection in South Africa – traditional artefacts and contemporary international art from the 15th century, including works by acclaimed artists such as Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Gerard Sekoto, Sydney Khumalo, Jacobus Pierneef and William Kentridge.

Last year, the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and Friends of the Gallery instructed law firm Webber Wentzel to write to Joburg mayor Dada Morero, demanding the city to maintain and take care of the building and art collection.