ALI MPHAKI
Soweto businessman Richard Maponya is eyeing the Funda Centre to build a skills training and entrepreneurship institute.
He recently visited the centre accompanied by a delegation of Brazilian diplomats, whose government is keen on a joint venture with Maponya.
News of the centre being converted has taken one of the longest surviving tenants, the Funda Fine Arts School, by surprise.
Its chairman, Charles Nkosi, said they had not been informed of the latest developments and that Maponya should remember the art school’s history.
“This has taken us by surprise. We will be consulting our legal team to see how we can take the matter further,” Nkosi said.
He pointed out that they were the original tenants of the centre, which was donated to the community of Soweto by the Urban Foundation and IBM.
Nkosi added that they were concerned that the centre still had no title deed.
The art centre, which has about 100 fine-arts students, has produced the likes of the late artist, playwright and activist Matsemela Manaka, his wife choreographer Nomsa Manaka and singer Sibongile Khumalo.
Maponya’s institute aims to address the dire skills shortage in the country, especially in Soweto.
But one of the challenges facing him is that the centre has been leased for 10 years to a company belonging to Umkhonto weSizwe veterans called Senior Citizen Focus (SCF). The company has seven years to go on its lease, obtained three years ago from the Johannesburg Property Company, which manages the property.
Chairman of SCF’s board, Steve Senama, said there were plans in the pipeline for the centre, but referred media enquiries to lobbyist and consultant MK Malefane.
Malefane confirmed that the centre would be converted next year to an institute offering marketable skills training and entrepreneurship support, especially to the youth and military veterans in Soweto and the rest of Gauteng.
Malefane said a proposed partnership with the Department of Human Settlements would aim to create about 10 000 jobs.