The City of Cape Town has been accused of giving preferential treatment to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's peace foundation.
The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation has a 40-year lease on the Old Granary in the city centre. It was signed in 2015, at a nominal annual rent of R836, but now African Christian Democratic Party councillor Demetrius Dudley wants it cancelled.
Dudley says the R31-million the council ploughed into renovating the 205-year-old building amounts to "wilful and wasteful expenditure", calling for "a more suitable site" to be found for the foundation so the Old Granary can be "leased out at a more realistic and financially viable return".The lease came under the spotlight last month when Stuart Diamond, the mayoral committee member responsible for assets and facilities, asked the council to amend it.
Dudley said the DA, which has a two-thirds majority in the council, "used their numbers" to push through the lease. "The report came back [last month] because they wanted to alter the lease after the city realised that they are giving away too much.
"So they are changing the lease to say that the Tutu foundation is responsible for the upkeep of the building and anything that was done inside. I just took the opportunity to say I don't believe the lease should have happened and that that type of money should be spent on the needy."
Tutu, who is 86, would inevitably die before the lease expired, said Dudley. "I believe the city should have done a five-year or 10-year lease, then review it."
Diamond said the foundation would use only the front of the building, with the rest devoted to council offices and a restaurant.
"The lease of the Granary to the foundation is to honour the contribution made by [Tutu] to the residents of Cape Town and the rest of the country," he said.
"The property will be managed by the city's priority assets team, given its heritage status, to ensure it remains well maintained."
Although the foundation has not yet moved in, the lease was signed on Leah Tutu's 82nd birthday, in 2015, by Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille."We wanted to find a fitting way in which to honour you ... on your special day," De Lille told the archbishop's wife.
Dudley said he would not be surprised if De Lille's close relationship with the Tutus influenced her support for the deal.
This week, at the height of her fight with the DA which saw her survive a motion of no confidence by one vote, De Lille visited the Tutus and tweeted pictures of them, saying: "I am so grateful for the support and words of encouragement offered by the Arch ... and Mama Leah. Two amazing leaders I have great love and respect for."
Said Dudley: "The Tutus probably contacted her and said: 'We are praying for you.' She puts it on Twitter and all of a sudden everybody who respects the Tutus will say: 'If it is the Tutus who are supporting her she must be innocent.'"
De Lille confirmed that she facilitated the lease but said what the city council was doing to honour Tutu was "minuscule" compared to his contribution towards a free South Africa.
Tutu foundation spokesman Laverne Mehl said the Old Granary was more suitable for public-benefit use than commercial leasing. As well as the R12-million the foundation had contributed towards renovations, it was raising R18-million to fit out a museum, library and chapel.
"We look forward to taking occupation shortly so we can help turn the Granary into a world-renowned space of peace and reconciliation to the benefit of all the people of Cape Town, the country and the world," said Mehl.
OLD GRANARY FACTS
• The Old Granary was constructed between 1808 and 1813 by Jacobus Hendricks as a house and bakery. It has also been a customs house and a magistrate’s court.
• According to the City of Cape Town, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation will pay rental of R835.96 annually, excluding VAT.
• The city refurbished the building for R43-million, R12-million of which came from the Tutu foundation...