The ruins of Sundowns’ spiritual home
The HM Pitje Stadium in Mamelodi stands in ruin, stripped away by thieves and now a dangerous habitat filled with drug dealers and other petty criminals. Once the pride of the people of the area, and a venue for sporting excellence, it has descended into a cesspit of decay. No football has been played there for 16 years, this despite over R100-million being spent on the facility to upgrade it ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. But is there light at the end of the tunnel? KICK OFF’s Nick Said finds out.
The HM Pitje Stadium in Mamelodi was once a citadel of South African football, the spiritual home of giants Sundowns and a place where opposition sides feared to tread. But more than that, it was also a home for the local community, with inter-schools sports events and festivals bringing no shortage of joy and helping to unearth plenty of local talent.
Those days are long gone. It is has turned from a proud facility for Mamelodi to a dangerous eye-sore that has been stripped bare and become a den for criminal elements.
And all this after a reported R136-million was spent to upgrade the stadium ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where it was to be a training facility but then never used due to safety concerns.
Local residents have now had enough and have organized a series of marches and events to try and highlight the plight of the stadium on a national level.
They feel ignored and shunned by Gauteng Premier David Makhura, with empty promises from his office over plans to demolish and rebuilt the facility, which is a key economic hub in the area and a driver of employment.
“The stadium was part of the 2010 World Cup legacy programme, but we have absolutely nothing to show for that,” says Boxie Shogole, an organizer of the local pressure group that operate under the hashtag #BringBackHMPitje.
“It was supposed to serve as one of the training grounds. Millions was spent on renovations but the stadium was never used because of safety concerns over the roof of the grandstand.
“That was the beginning of the end, the stadium was allowed to fall into disrepair and it has been a decade-long fight to rehabilitate it. The community has lost one of its big pillars and we need the talking to end and the action to start.”
Indeed, documents seen by KICK OFF show that a number of improvements were completed ahead of 2010 – the installation of turnstiles, improvement of retail spaces, toilets were upgraded, the electrics modernised and parking facilities improved.
But the issue of the grandstand was never fully addressed and now the venue has been stripped of anything valuable and lies in ruin, that enormous amount of money spent to renovate it quite literally wasted.
“The stadium has been closed for 15 or 16 years now, there has not been any use since
“IT HAS REMAINED AS AN EXPENSIVE WHITE ELEPHANT AND HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY VANDALIZED.”
it was first shut to allow for renovations,” Shogole says.
“It has remained as an expensive white elephant and has been extensively vandalized. There used to be security there provided by the City [of Tshwane], but that has stopped and since then the vandalism has got worse. It is now a major crime hotspot in the area and bad people hang out there.
“Since the security contract ended, it gets vandalised daily. There are no pipes, copper wire, nothing. It has all be stripped away, along with a lot more.
“People get attacked there when they are walking home from work. It used to be this proud thing in the community where we would watch and play sport, but those days are long, long gone. Now it is a danger to us.”
Talking to government
Shogole says members of the community came together in 2015 to try and work on a plan to rehabilitate the stadium.
“We engaged with then [Gauteng MEC for Sports, Heritage, Arts and Culture] Faith Mazibuko, who actually thought the stadium had been operational all that time. She seemed surprised to hear it had fallen into disrepair.
“We had meetings with them to create a plan to sort out the stadium. The whole process started five years ago. We got the City involved, believing they were the owners of the stadium, but it actually falls under the provincial government [of Gauteng].”
Shogole says they have spoken to Makhura and his office, and it was agreed that the current stadium needed to be demolished and rebuilt, such was the dire state of it.
“Architects were appointed, we went through the whole process and developed a multi-purpose sports precinct, which included rugby fields and an athletics track.
“That was important because we have said all along that this is not just about soccer, this is meant to be a stadium for the use of the whole community. We wanted to cater for as many sports as possible to give our children opportunities. Not everybody wants to be a soccer player. We want to develop future sports stars across the board.”
But Shogole says since then things have gone quiet after they applied for, and received, the required demolition permits.
“They were presented with a plan to demolish the stadium two years ago, but of course then they said there were budget problems. We said, ‘fine, so let’s do it over time, start with phase one, then phase two and so on’. Let’s just get this project started. But nothing.”
Shogole, who lives five minutes away from the stadium, remembers what it was once like, and how it was a beacon of hope in the Mamelodi community.
“I started going to the stadium when I was seven years old, my uncle would take me and it was he who introduced me to Mamelodi Sundowns. It is just so sad I cannot do the same with my son. My children have never seen that stadium operational.
“On a match day it would be a hive of activity, not just the fans but the [food] stalls, transport and so on. There was a lot of economic activity that it brought to the area. It gave our people a lot of opportunities.
“Added to that, many schools sports programmes were run through there, people would come from a long way away to see our athletics festivals. It was a central point for a lot of things.
“Since it has been closed, a lot of businesses that were associated with the stadium have closed too. It is really sad.”
Sundowns to the rescue?
Shogole says there is a big drive among community members to see the stadium re-opened, but admits some have become disillusioned after 16 years.
“Other people who have recently come here, say in the last 10 years, do not understand the significance of the stadium because they have never seen it open. They don’t understand what it can do for the local community.”
It would appear that the last hope of residents rests with Mamelodi Sundowns, as their former president Patrice Motsepe had spoken before of his desire to move the club back to their original home.
They currently use Loftus Versfeld rugby stadium in the Hatfield suburb of Pretoria, as well as the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville. The club’s offices and training venue is in Chloorkop in Midrand.
From the HM Pitje Stadium to Atteridgeville can be a drive of up to an hour, a long journey for diehard Sundowns fans.
“I actually wanted to take Sundowns out of Chloorkop and put it back in Pretoria and have strong infrastructure for it,” Motsepe was quoted last year. “HM Pitje [Stadium] will always be part of our plans in the long term.
“The first games when I took over went to HM Pitje Stadium but I was told that it is not safe‚ and the minute you tell me that a stadium is not safe I become paranoid. I don’t want 80 or 90 percent assurance‚ I want 100 percent assurance.
“If there are things that can be done there‚ we will take some of our games there. Of course there are some big games that cannot be played at HM Pitje but we have a unique obligation to [the venue].”
Shogole says there have been talks with the Motsepe Foundation for some time, but those too have stalled over various issues.
“There was talk of Patrice Motsepe trying to get involved, but it being a community stadium there were potential problems with usage. The city felt it would be in the interests of the stadium for them to run it and not the club.
“But we did engage with Sundowns and other potential stakeholders to make what is called a private-public partnership, whereby the money for the development could be
“PEOPLE GET ATTACKED THERE WHEN THEY ARE WALKING HOME FROM WORK.”
provided upfront and the loan repaid over time.
“This seemed a good option to get the project done so the community could benefit, but last we heard provincial government was dragging their feet.
“The City is actually very willing and able, and have been very supportive of us, but it is government that is stalling everything. They can even hand it back to the city in its current state, we will work out something. It is just quiet. Everything is at a standstill.”
Promise of action
But there is light at the end of the tunnel, according to Tshwane MMC for Social Development Thabisile Vilakazi, who has been assured that demolition of the venue will take place this year.
“I have been in engagement with MEC [for Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation] Mbali Hlophe and we have spoken quite openly about this ‘monster’ on our streets,” Vilakazi says. “She has committed to me that it will be demolished by the province, at the latest around September.
“But you know the demolition is just the start of the process and thereafter there must be a Plan B for what to do with that space. We are trying to involve the Motsepe Foundation and those engagements are on-going.”
Vilakazi says what they build in the place of the current structure, if the project gets that far, will be done in conjunction with the community.
“The plan that we will move along with will be one that favours the community,” she says. “Each and every step we take forward, we will hear from the community. We will listen to what their vision is.
“Once we are close to demolishing, we will go back again to the community again and start dialogue. We have had these discussions before, but it would be proper to go back to them again.”
And so it looks as though Mamelodi Sundowns are crucial to any progress. The club’s legal and communications manager Yogesh Singh is in record as saying the club wanted to be part of a project to rebuild the stadium in the past, but adds “red tape” and the desire for a 100-year lease for the club had been sticking points.
Singh declined to comment on the matter when contacted by KICK OFF, but has previously said he felt there was “no way forward” for the club at HM Pitje Stadium.
The City are keen to re-engage, though it is clear they will have to make concessions and any deal will need to suit Sundowns. At this stage there does not appear to be anyone else
“THE PLAN THAT WE WILL MOVE ALONG WITH WILL BE ONE THAT FAVOURS THE COMMUNITY.”
who could fund the project with government unwilling to do so.
Shogole has seen this ‘two steps forward, three steps back’ talk before and for him it is a matter of believing any tangible progress when he sees it.
“There have been so many promises before over the years, but they just give us lip service. There is never any actual action and we are left with the consequences of that.
“We would welcome the demolition of the stadium, that is what we have been asking for. But let’s wait and see before we get our hopes up.”