Chippa stadium plan touches a few nerves
BCM’s playing fields are not in the best shape, but what is the best solution?
It may not necessarily be what everyone wants, but I am sure nobody wants the status quo: a pair of crippled stadiums with no management
When Chippa United FC boss Siviwe Chippa” Mpengesi’s letter arrived on my desk on Thursday last week, I knew we had a big story on our hands.
The copy, addressed to the head of SA Football Association Buffalo City president Mxolisi Sibam, makes it clear Mpengesi intends to finalise contracts to lease the Buffalo City and Jan Smuts stadiums during November.
In terms of the proposal made to BCM, the stadiums would be rented for R3,000 a month and Mpengesi would invest R10m in the metro.
I immediately put other stories aside because I anticipated this story would be a talking point until at least November.
It carries hard news currency and implications for East London, Port Elizabeth and even the former Transkei region.
I’ve already picked up from social media reaction to the article that people from the eastern part of the province feel this development gives budding sportsmen and women a glimmer of hope.
Before I spoke to Mpengesi last Friday, I called a few councillors to get a feel of the story.
And judging from the opposition, and to an equal extent the support, I was satisfied the story would be big.
It was time to phone Mpengesi.
Anticipating a grumpy man who was probably preoccupied with axing players and signing new ones, I was surprised and relieved to talk to a calm person willing to walk me through his proposal in the time he had available.
Why did I think he might be grumpy? Because grumpy is supposed to be the default setting of multimillionaires.
Also, Mpengesi is often described as a man with a short fuse and a penchant for firing coaches willy-nilly, so my concerns were not entirely misplaced.
However, in my interview with the man, I spoke to someone with a clear and concise plan.
It may not necessarily be what everyone wants, but I am sure nobody wants the status quo: a pair of crippled stadiums with no management.
Still, it would be naive not to consider the gripes of other stakeholders.
They have occupied the stadium for a long time. There is a rich sporting heritage at both stadiums.
It is totally understandable they feel hard done by.
They feel Mpengesi is being mollycoddled by the ANC with the R3,000 lease for the two stadiums.
However, he says he is committing a R10m investment, which will also see his own football club — which he says is not a business to him “but something I do for the people” pay rent.
I spoke with Mpengesi for about 12 minutes, though he did put me on hold at times. He is a busy man. When the story was published, I was inundated with calls from as far afield as Johannesburg and Cape Town, with people expressing their support for Mpengesi, and at least one supporter asking for his number to “say thanks to him personally”.
On Sunday, I got a call from a colleague in sport who had been phoned by Umhlobo Wenene FM.
They requested an interview with me, which I agreed to.
On air, the three or four callers who phoned in were supportive of Mpengesi’s ambitious plan — all of them decrying the state of stadiums across the metro.
The ANC caucus in the Buffalo City Metro council is deeply divided on the matter.
But both sides have a point and just need to find each other
— as do concerned stakeholders and Mpengesi.
At the end of the day, sport — and the public — must be the winner.