Vandals strip two sporting facilities in Buffalo Flats down to the bone

Bowling and cricket clubs just empty shells, with everything movable having been stolen

BCM has blamed a rise in vandalism for the terrible state of some recreational facilities in the Buffalo Flats area.

This includes the Buffalo Flats Bowling Club, which has been ransacked, and the Buffalo Flats Cricket Club, which is in a similar condition.

The Daily Dispatch visited the bowling club and found that it had been completely looted.

Its windows, doors and even toilet seats have been either stolen or damaged.

Its fencing has been stolen and the bowling green is completely overgrown. The bowling club was meant to host ward councillor Shandre Marilyn Hoffman’s office, but now she has to work from home or from the boot of her car.

Her predecessor, who is now a PR councillor, dealt with the same situation, and ended up working from his home.

According to a council document, the city now wants to fix the property and estimates it will cost R1.8m to do so.

BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya confirmed the property was earmarked for repairs. “It is among the properties that have been earmarked for renovations depending on availability of budget,” he said.

“The biggest problem we have is crime, which is prevalent everywhere.

“Crime is on the rise again. It’s a national phenomenon which we are all aware of and dealing with.

“Vandalism of our facilities has been on the rise, but we have taken a few interventions in curbing crime in the metro. Our law enforcement officials and the police do patrols in the area.”

He said officials were pleading with the community of Buffalo Flats to assist the metro in catching anyone who vandalised facilities.

A Buffalo Flats resident, Schalk van der Sandt, said the community wanted public infrastructure to be given to it so people could look after it.

“I want nothing. I want these things to go to the communities.”

He said it was not useful to always blame BCM.

He said he and his NPO, Friends of Schalk, had witnessed a similar situation at the Billy Francis Hall, which was beginning to be vandalised, and they had approached the municipality.

Van der Sandt suggested that when the building was fixed, the budget should include money for security, though he understood that the municipality did not have enough funds.

Giovanni Redcliff, who used to run a sports bar at the Buffalo Flats Cricket Club, said part of the problem was that some of the city’s buildings had been taken over by community groups which were unable to fulfil their duties.

“The custodians of the buildings are given the buildings and they don’t look after them. They let them go to ruin.

“They don’t invest in the building.

“I spent almost R200,000 on that building.

“At the time I didn’t even know it belonged to the municipality,” he said.

Redcliff said the main problem was vagrants who walked around looking for scrap metal. “There are a lot of scrapyards, so it’s easy money. The drugs and the things are here, so they open scrapyards also.

“They exchange [the scrap] for tik, so it will never stop because it’s an easy way to get drugs,” he said.

Chief Joseph Kreeling said the state of some of the facilities was saddening, especially the cricket club, where he grew up playing hockey.

“A few of our prominent hockey and cricket players — SA players — came from that field.

“I saw the destruction on that field and the vandalism is not only robbing the community, it is robbing the next generation of an opportunity to engage in the sports they love so much, which are cricket and hockey.

“They really do damage to the image of our suburb and they do damage to BCM because it has to run around for a fresh budget now to [do repairs] because all you see there is a skeleton.

“The turf of the hockey field was carried away by people on a daily basis,” he said.