The debacle over the De Poort heritage village in Paarl South continues almost 20 years after plans for this development were forged.
And in this time span De Poort has been sailing almost like a ship of fools to nowhere.
The village, situated on the field between Pine and Turk Street belonging to the Drakenstein Municipality, was built with the support of the local and district municipality as well as a Lotto grant as a Wagon and Cart Factory and craft and training centre.
The idea was to showcase the rich wagon-industry history of the valley while creating jobs and drawing tourists.
But in all this time De Poort has been nothing more than a sinking ship from the word go.
Only a few years after it was up and running it was plagued by financial problems and infighting between the Drakenstein Municipality and the privately run board of De Poort. This relationship soured to such an extent that the municipality physically locked the board out, which then also led to legal action, which the municipality lost.
Then followed mediation between the two parties, which seemed to continue with no end in sight.
But in the meantime directors of De Poort did try and create a tourism hub amid many challenges at De Poort, with festivals and so on. Yet the facility just never came off the ground.
Former chairperson of De Poort Dirk Breytenbach says the village has failed because of the Drakenstein Municipality’s interference through the years and due to their deliberate avoidance of their contractual obligations in terms of the lease.
“Due to this De Poort could never develop to its full glory,” said Breytenbach. “The fact is, a municipality cannot or must not run businesses that are commercially established. In my opinion, a municipality should focus on the basic mandates of power, water, roads and infrastructure, and the officials should not have the necessary skills for running a business.
“Because of the dragging of their feet there is nothing happening at De Poort now. The buildings are getting old and the legacy of the wagon industry that played a big role in Paarl is disappearing.
“De Poort is a sticky toffee, which everybody is now trying to avoid.”
But the municipality still clings to the pipe dreams of De Poort.
Mayor Conrad Poole said recently in his Budget Speech: “The development of the De Poort site has been identified as a key project to enhance tourism and economic activity.
“The aim is to develop De Poort into an integrated and multifunctional space that serves mainly as the tourism gateway to Paarl and the Drakenstein area. A call for proposals will be advertised during the first quarter of the new financial year for implementation of Phase 1 of the project to commence in 2022.”
But to those involved with this defunct endeavour, if De Poort has not yet become what it is meant to be it never will.
