Century-old Durban parish centre will be transformed

The building in which a Durban community found refuge for over a century is to be demolished.

But the Denis Hurley Trust has given an assurance that the work of the late archbishop and human rights activist will continue in a new multi-million-rand centre.

The trust was yesterday expected to decide on the contractor to demolish the dilapidated 109-year-old Cathedral Emmanuel Parish Centre in the city centre.

The new Denis Hurley Centre will be built on the same site.

According to the Denis Hurley Centre project, the activist's first sociopolitical intervention came in 1949 when families living in the then Grey Street came to Emmanuel Cathedral to ask for refuge during the Zulu-Indian war that erupted in Durban.

Since then the centre has been a home, clinic and kitchen and has offered counselling to hundreds of desperate people.

During the 2008 xenophobic attacks, the centre took in 500 refugees although its ablution, cooking and living facilities were inadequate.

The new centre "will cater for at least 4000 members of the community that we assist with parish services each month", the project's coordinator and well-known activist Paddy Kearney said yesterday.

The adjoining cathedral was restored 10 years ago for R20-million.

The new R30-million centre will have four storeys and its finishes and detailing will reflect the design and materials of the cathedral.

The building will house a clinic, a feeding scheme, a refugee centre, a resource centre, a prayer room, arts and culture programmes, meeting and conference rooms and accommodation for foreign volunteers.

The demolition is expected to take at least six weeks.

Construction of the new centre will be completed in 14 months.