BCM must act on stadium rot

HUGE asset to city ravaged by theft, damaged by vagrants, left to rot,” read Saturday Dispatch’s headline report at the weekend.

The article was about the sad state of the once immaculate Jan Smuts Stadium.

The now dilapidated stadium used to be the home venue of several soccer clubs, including Blackburn Rovers FC, FC Buffalo, Bush Bucks, O R Tambo DC and Tornado, to mention a few.

Adversely affected by the ruined state of the stadium are thousands of pupils from 432 schools in and around Buffalo City Metro who have been using the stadium for athletics and other sports codes for decades.

Border Athletics chairman of track and field Dumisani Nokenke last month told the Dispatch sister paper GO! and Express a sad story of how for the past six years they had been writing letters to BCM, pleading with the municipality to beef up security at the stadium – to no avail.

At the time, Nokenke said, the situation was already so dire that any school wanting to use the stadium was advised to hire portable toilets – at a cost of R30 000 per day – because since last year, the water pipes have not functioned, and consequently the toilets cannot be flushed.

There is no electricity and vandals are vandalising the grounds and stealing equipment.

“It is a shame, because the pupils do practise these sporting codes, but can not showcase their talents on a higher level due to the lack of equipment,” Nokenke said.

The club has even considered relocating to King William’s Town to use Hoërskool De Vos Malan as the main athletics venue, Nokenke said, but track events would prove problematic.

Hudson Park High School is one of many East London schools that has used the facilities for the past three decades. But now deputy principal Dave Alers says this year they have been told to find an alternative venue because of the lack of water and electricity at the stadium.

“We have to bring our own sound system, computers and portable toilets. The hurdles are broken or stolen. This is just such a sad state of affairs as it was a top venue.”

When the Dispatch visited last week, things looked even worse. The stadium has fallen into total disrepair, with vagrants sleeping in the stadium at night. The building inside has been burnt by fires made by vagrants and the equipment for discus, pole vault and hammer throw, are nowhere to be found.

Border Athletics president Daan Louw said the stadium had been removed from Athletics South Africa’s database as a possible host for national events.

The Eastern Cape Primary and High School champs were earmarked for the stadium, but that, too, has been cancelled. Louw said hosting these schools would have meant 3 000 pupils would have been hosted in East London.

“These are children, so their families would have come down to watch. That is money that would be coming into the city,” said Louw.

“The metro had never been able to give me a proper answer on why this is happening.”

Ratepayers have to demand answers from Buffalo City Metro on why it allowed this asset to be in such a sorry state. Mayor Xola Pakati must lead his council to act with speed and remedy the situation.