Stadium worth millions left unused

Five years to appoint a manager as teams forced to travel for matches

A stadium built by Nyandeni municipal bosses for millions of rands has been unused in Libode since its completion five years ago.

Sanco members claimed that R22m had been spent on building the facility.

This was disputed by Nyandeni municipal spokesperson Viwe Ndamase on Tuesday. He said the stadium had cost about R9m.

“We don't have a project exceeding R12m in the municipality,” he said.

The stadium consists of a soccer field and netball fields, change rooms with showers, ablution facilities and a main grandstand. Sanco regional spokesperson in the OR Tambo region, Vuyolwethu Notununu, said the stadium had been unused for many years and a section of its precast concrete walls had crumbled.

He said netball poles were lying rusted around the field.

“It’s a complete waste of municipal resources that could have been used for other service delivery purposes,” said Notununu.

“Not a single game has been played on the field and yet millions of rands have been spent.

“Now children are forced to play on an open field not even suitable for soccer.”

Notununu said they had raised this with Nyandeni officials several times to no avail. “We feel the municipality is taking us for granted.”

Secretary of the Nyandeni Local Football Association Thandekile Ngcele said they were finding it hard to stage any major soccer tournaments in Libode as there was no functioning stadiums.

He said they were not informed about the state of the stadium project and local matches were taken to the Shushu ground which didn’t have ablution facilities or water. “That [shortage of stadiums] is our biggest challenge at the moment and it impacts negatively on soccer development in the area.”

He said they had been forced to take some tournaments to Mthatha or Lusikisiki where there were decent stadiums, which took trade away from local businesses and the local economy. Ndamase said construction started in 2011 and was completed in 2013.

“All the scope of work was done but the main issue had been on the matter of the management of the stadium.

“We didn't want to just open it without having anyone to run it,” he said. Ndamase said a team had already been appointed to run the stadium and would likely start working before the end of the month.

He said a portion of the wall around the stadium had been eroded by a landslide but said the municipality's infrastructure section would fix it.

Not a single game has been played on the field and yet millions of rands have been spent