The last section of a controversial bladewire barrier in the Company’s Garden is expected to be completely removed by Friday.

The move, a day before Heritage Day, couldn’t have come at a better time. Thousands of visitors will be able to more easily enter the Company’s Garden. 

Public access to the green space dates back to 1795. One of the first British governors, Sir George Yonge, tried to make the park private as part of his estate at Tuynhuys.

There was such an outcry that Yonge was forced out of office, and the tradition of allowing public access to the garden remains to this day. Use of the garden predates the construction of the Houses of Parliament by more than 30 years.

On Thursday, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis confirmed that the SA Police Service had finally agreed to remove the bladewire restricting public access to Government Avenue adjacent to Parliament.

The barricade was apparently meant to reinforce security after a fire swept through Parliament on 2 January. Suspected arsonist Zandile Mafe was arrested in connection with the blaze and is on trial.

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Towards the end of June, more than five months after the blaze, police erected a 1.5m fence, blocking the main entrance to the Company’s Garden and cutting off sections of Government Avenue leading up to the National Gallery.

The Company’s Garden is one of the few open spaces in Cape Town’s centre and has often been called the “green lung” of the city.

At the time, the DA Chief Whip Natasha Mazzone said “from the outside, the parliamentary precinct looks like a cordoned-off prison yard”.

Mayor Hill-Lewis said the city felt this was an unlawful obstruction of a public thoroughfare. His office has spent months negotiating with police to remove the barrier.

“We are pleased that the date for removal of the barbed wire is being honoured. The removal is likely to be completed by Friday, 23 September, according to correspondence received from SAPS. 

“We welcome the reinstatement of this historic and important thoroughfare in central Cape Town.

“SAPS will now instead place a barrier on the inside of the parliamentary precinct to restrict unauthorised access. This will effectively reinstate freedom of movement for pedestrians via Government Avenue,” Hill-Lewis said. DM