Remarkably, the much-publicized whorehouse situated in Agatha Street just a few metres from the office of Tzaneen’s mayor, now has car washing facilities for its patrons. In fact they now have a massive advertisement, written in what appears to be permanent marker on cardboard, fixed to the fence that borders the property.
The car wash operates daily until 18:00 in the evenings.Â
Now, this is an abandoned and dilapidated house. Where is the water coming from for the car wash and where are they washing the cars?
On the pavement next to the house, one of the occupants has setup a street vending stall where he sells chips, peanuts and loose draws to passerby including employees of the municipality.
Whilst the ward Councillors and management of the municipality spend hundreds of thousands on meetings and planning sessions, the welfare of the citizens whom they are meant to serve continues to decline.
Bulletin has reported on this house numerous times in the last few months and in fact we have gone as far as to interview one of the residents of this house on camera in a short documentary which we published on our social media pages. All of this to force the municipality to do so something about the situation.
Each time we inquired about the state of the house, we were told by the ward Councillor for this DA-run ward, as well as by the spokesperson for the municipality, that the house was not the property of the GTM, but belonged to the Department of Public Works and therefore they cannot intervene.
We heard from one of the occupants of this notorious property that there are at least five prostitutes who offer their services from this house daily and that even members of the police and municipal officials frequently make use of these services.
The house used to be the former residence of the town clerk but over the last two decades has become a hollowed-out haven for vagrants and prostitutes. The house itself has no electricity, no sanitation as all the toilets and basins and faucets have been removed and likely sold off for scrap.
There are no curtains, no doors and very little in the form of furniture. Fires are made in the rooms upon the pine floors and the entire house harbours a vile stench. Occupants of the house relieve themselves in the garden or against the side of the house. The walls are covered in graffiti and hand-written advertisements for sex.
The house is situated on the corner of Agatha and Pienaar Streets. This is right opposite the civic centre, next to the South African Police Services Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses (FCS) offices. Not more than half a kilometre up in the same street, children attend Tzaneen Primary school.
