Fountains Valley park-and-ride facility reopened

Pretoria – The Fountains Valley park-and-ride facility has been reopened and members of the public who wish to view the late former President Nelson Mandela’s body at the Union Buildings can make use of it.

Buses have been arranged to transport people from the Fountains Valley park-and-ride to the Union Buildings. People will be scanned on arrival at the Union Buildings.

“We would like to apologise to the mourners who were inconvenienced this morning and urge them to remain calm and patient,” City of Tshwane municipality spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

Last night, officials had cancelled the facility at Fountains Valley, owing to some of the challenges experienced yesterday. However, crowds of mourners, unaware of the changes, went to the facility from early this morning.

The two other park-and-ride facilities are at the LC de Villiers Sports Facility in Hatfield (south entrance of the University of Pretoria) and the Tshwane Events Centre (gates 8 and 9) on WF Nkomo Street, Pretoria west.

Mourners are able to converge and be shuttled to the Union Buildings from 8am.

Members of the public are urged to make use of these services as access to view the body will be restricted to people in city buses only.

At a briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane urged the public to dress appropriately for the occasion.

He said cellphones will need to be switched off and out of sight at the Union Buildings and no cameras will be allowed.

“Indelible ink, such as that used during elections, will be used to mark mourners’ fingers so that no-one will be able to visit the Union Buildings more than once.

“Visitors will not be able to stop at the casket as the continuous movement of people will help us to accommodate as many mourners as possible. This way, we expect that up to 2 000 people per hour could file past the casket,” Chabane said.

Children were welcomed to join their parents but they should use the necessary discretion, as the event can be emotional.

Visitors will return to the park-and-ride sites on the same shuttles and no-one will be able to leave the Union Buildings precinct on foot. – SAnews.gov.za