GOOD Statement by Wesley Neumann, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:
The GOOD Party welcomes and fully supports the principled stance taken by the Parkwood Sports Complex Municipal Facility Management Committee (MFMC) at today’s City of Cape Town Sub-council 18 meeting to insist on the revitalisation and completion of the long-abandoned tartan athletics track at Fairmount High School.
For far too long, the Southern Suburbs and South Peninsula, serving more than 120 primary and high schools, have been deliberately deprived of a dedicated athletics facility.
Athletics is one of the most accessible and popular sporting codes on the Cape Flats, embraced by schools and community-based running clubs alike. Yet, despite this demand, generations of young athletes have been forced to train and compete without a proper facility.
The incomplete tartan track stands as a symbol of institutional neglect and broken promises. It has been one of the greatest disservices to the broader South Peninsula region, an area renowned for producing Olympic- and world-class athletes despite the absence of world-class infrastructure.
One can only imagine the potential that could have been unlocked had this facility been completed when it was first approved over two decades ago.
It is particularly galling that this neglect occurred under successive DA administrations, including during the tenure of then-Mayor Helen Zille,
now self-styled as Johannesburg’s “Ms Fix-It-All”. The lack of political will on her part to complete this project after the temporary relocation of families onto land earmarked for sport represents a profound failure of governance and conscience.
How many lives could have been redirected, how many Olympians unearthed, had this project been seen through to completion!
More recently, the community has again been told there is “no funding” to complete the track, an explanation that rings hollow when the City has proceeded to build new athletics track in Mitchell Plain later this year.
While Grassy Park and the greater South Peninsula continue to wait. Equity in infrastructure provision cannot be selective or politically convenient.
GOOD therefore commends the Parkwood
MFMC for standing firm and fighting for what the community rightfully deserves. Their advocacy reflects community memory, resilience, and an unwavering belief that public infrastructure must serve the public good.
As GOOD, we will walk this road with the MFMC every step of the way.
The revitalization of this project is long overdue. It restores hope, rekindles dreams, and affirms the aspirations of children and youth across the greater Grassy Park area.
Now, more than ever, community solidarity and institutional accountability are required to ensure that this development is finally completed for this generation and those to come.
Memory is the weapon!
Forward we march!! On your marks!
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