The Herald (South Africa)

Bay sports facilities report no surprise

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WHAT was reported in The Herald on Tuesday about our decaying sports facilities in the metro (“A sports disaster waiting to happen”) is not news to me at all.

We have been complainin­g about our facilities since the dawn of democracy and in its reply, the municipali­ty will tell you about the budget constraint­s.

I am also surprised that former councillor Charmaine Williams [now director of sports and recreation] is also shocked about the appalling conditions of our facilities.

Sport is not being taken seriously in this metro and no one knows where the budget goes.

People must not pretend that they care.

A new plan for Dan Qeqe Stadium has revealed to the public about 15 years ago, but till today we don’t even have phase one finished and the only thing they will do is they will paint the stadium, nothing else.

I don’t want to mention the Zwide Stadium and the Wolfson Stadium.

Funds were allocated to those stadiums during the soccer World Cup, but you can’t pinpoint exactly what they have done about those millions.

For God’s sake, it’s so difficult for the municipali­ty to fix the ablution facilities, whereas it has got plumbers in their numbers.

The only positive aspect I can mention is that the municipali­ty has hired a security company to guard the stadiums 24/7.

The municipali­ty has a tendency of appointing people for the sport positions who have no vision for the sport and if you don’t know the slogan of Sacos, that says there will be no normal sport in an abnormal society, you won’t fit into the equation.

All sporting federation­s in the metro should come together and produce a workable solution to this problem as a matter of urgency.

Mzwandile aka Pepe Nkomombini, former cricket coach, umpire and administra­tor, Zwide, Port Elizabeth

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