PUBLIC LOSS: Joburg’s Santarama Miniland ‘hijacked’ for private gain

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> Santarama Miniland was once one of Joburg’s biggest tourist attractions. Now it can be booked for private events, while its operator has no valid lease agreement.

The Hillbrow Tower, Max the Gorilla and Michael Jackson are the sole remnants inside Johannesburg’s iconic Santarama Miniland. Outside, a towering statue of Jan van Riebeeck still stands guard over what was once one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions, built to fund tuberculosis care for the South African National Tuberculosis Association (Santa).

Today, the municipal-owned property at Wemmer Pan, south of Joburg, has been hijacked. The City of Joburg appears to have no interest in discovering who has taken it over or who is collecting rent from what has now been turned into a neat, well-kept, private picnic and function venue – even though local ward councillors and former Santa officials have continuously brought the hijacking to the attention of various city officials.

Gone are the meticulous miniature buildings that once delighted generations of schoolchildren and tourists – the scale replicas of the Union Buildings, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Gold Reef City mine dumps. Gone too is the Dromedaris, the iconic full-scale replica ship on the lake where visitors could go for rides, alongside the mini steam train sets, the cable cars and the miniature harbour that once formed the heart of the park.

The grounds have now been taken over by private individuals who put the premises out to let as an event venue – charging thousands of rands for parties, corporate functions and picnics while the municipality receives zero revenue for rent, water or electricity services consumed on site.

While the heritage has been gutted, commercial exploitation on the municipal land is thriving – entirely off the City’s books.

The Joburg Property Company (JPC) has officially admitted that it has no valid lease agreement for the historic site at 183 Rosettenville Road in Glenesk, confirming that private operators run commercial ventures on city-owned land while paying zero rental income to the public purse.

In an official written response to Daily Maverick queries, JPC confirmed the City’s complete lack of contractual control over the asset.