Members of the Grahamstown Residents Association expressed frustration at Transnet's failure to attend an information meeting about the Grahamstown Station on Thursday 12 February.
Members of the Grahamstown Residents Association expressed frustration at Transnet's failure to attend an information meeting about the Grahamstown Station on Thursday 12 February.
The meeting was to report back on its campaign to rescue the historic local railway station from vandals and looters.
Transnet recently appointed Siyazama contractors to clean up and secure the site.
The station was previously identified as a possible hub for long-distance buses, and a recent independent tip-off to Grocott's Mail suggests this may now be the plan.
The Association was hoping to be briefed at the lunchtime meeting on plans for the disused station, which since 2013 has been stripped of fittings and parts of its basic structure.
Historian and member of the Association Fleur Way-Jones outlined the history of the facility, which last serviced an operational rail service in 2009.
She described how within a year, the building turned from a viable venue for Rhodes Masters Fine Art student Amy Tarr's final exhibition in 2013, to one stripped of every removable item.
She expressed frustration at the failure of representatives from Transnet, who had been invited, to attend the briefing.
Association member Jock McConnachie noted that the railway warehouse near Kuyasa Special School had been entirely dismantled "from top to bottom".
"These are not just opportunists," McConnachie said.
"This is systematic theft and we need to find out who is the hand behind it."
Member Marian Hendry said her enquiries had revealed that Hi-Tec were guarding the station premises and that there were plans to erect a peripheral fence.
More than 3 000 petition signatures were received from locals, the rest of South Africa and from around the world, including from UK, Netherlands, Australia, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Botswana, UAE, USA, Spain, Germany and Switzerland in a campaign that was started in August last year.
