More empty platitudes, promises

Many politicians showed concern at the death of 21young children at Enyobeni Tavern. They said many things they knew we always say or we would love to hear; that our children resort to excessive drinking because there are no recreational facilities.

I was thrilled when a department was created to deal specifically with sport, recreation, arts and culture. To my disappointment, it turned out to be nothing more than an employment bureau that delivers nothing. Sport died on their watch, while the drain the country’s fiscus.

Should we believe them when they promise to build recreational facilities, when at Bholothwa village, a house was built on the grounds of a tennis court which was used by whites and maintained by prisoners during the apartheid years. All hopes of people playing tennis there were destroyed.

A tennis court at Ezibeleni, which was a hive of activity for tennis players, will soon be a mall, which is a good move for employment. Couldn’t land be found to build a mall while also developing the tennis court?

Madeira stadium, which catered for rugby, soccer, cricket, netball and tennis, was given to a church.

Sandringham stadium was vandalised to the last brick, despite pleas for it to be given to sporting federations.

The Craft Hub was razed to the ground amid allegations that it had become a home to “vagrants”. This happened despite pleas for it to be used to accommodate sporting federations to end the culture of running sporting and recreational activities from homes, the boots of cars and backs of bakkies.

I knew the promises made were the emptiest I ever heard. The department of sport, recreation, arts and culture needs to pull up its socks to avoid giving credence to Zapiro’s reference to it as the department of A*se, ….