The blame for the massive fire that destroyed the rugby field at the Jan Lotz Stadium in Krugersdorp last night (13 July) can be laid squarely at the door of the Mogale City Local Municipality.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) repeatedly asked the Municipality to cut the grass in and around the Stadium. It did not happen, though.
The rugby field was overgrown with tall grass and weeds.
The Stadium is adjacent to the Bob van Reenen Stadium, once the pride of Krugersdorp, but now completely dilapidated and overgrown with foreign shrubs, weeds and tall grass. In the past, renowned South African sports heroes competed in various sports at the Bob van Reenen Stadium.
Twenty years ago, the Municipality partially demolished the Bob van Reenen Stadium to make way for a new soccer stadium intended to serve as the home of the Kaizer Chiefs Soccer Club. This never materialised.
In its 2014/15 budget, the Gauteng Province allocated R314 million to upgrading the Bob van Reenen Stadium’s changing rooms and other facilities. Shortly after completion, washbasins, toilets, taps and more were ripped from the walls and stolen. Even the transformer was taken. Only the walls remained.
Today, the tartan track is cracked and overgrown with weeds, the cycling track is riddled with potholes, the gymnasium walls are mouldy and the clubhouse roof has collapsed.
The Bob van Reenen and Jan Lotz Stadiums stand as monuments to the ANC’s mismanagement, demonstrating its lack of political will to create a sports hub for schoolchildren in the West Rand. Smaller schools, which lack the financial means to build proper sports fields, are affected most.
The party repeatedly urged the Municipality to ensure that both stadiums’ infrastructure is properly maintained, but it fell on deaf ears.
Sunday night’s fire is the result of Mogale City’s laxity and utter failure to maintain municipal infrastructure.
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