Seven Years of Promises but Still No Stadium

The new Waterval sports stadium is still not complete, seven years after construction started.

Seven years after construction started, the new sports stadium at Waterval, in the Vhembe region in Limpopo, has still not been completed, though at least R28-million has been spent.

Residents are now fed-up with the local municipality’s promises and excuses.

The Waterval Stadium is not far from Elim, in a densely populated area including Mpheni and Makhongele villages. In 2017, work began to transform the local soccer field at Waterval into a proper sports stadium, which could host major tournaments. It was supposed to be an eight-month project.

But as the years went by, the completion of the stadium was postponed over and over again.

According to municipal budget documents, the municipality had set aside R11-million for Phase 2 of the project in 2018/19, with a further R9-million allocated to the project in 2020/21. The tender for the third and final stage of the project amounted to R28.4-million, with an additional R2-million allocated later. There is no information in previous budget documents on Phase 1, except a reference to palisade fencing to be put up in 2015.

In December 2022, spokesperson Louis Bobodi told Zoutnet the Makhado Municipality was finalising a tender for a new contractor to complete outstanding work. At the beginning of June this year, he said the project was now in its final phase and “the stadium will be completed at the end of June”.

But the stadium was not completed in June, and when GroundUp visited the site on 22 August, there were no workers present – only security guards. The seats for the tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts were rusting and overgrown with bushes.

“We don’t have a proper field for sports activities, and we hope the municipality can prioritise our plea because we have been waiting for years for the stadium to be completed,” said resident Prince Mageza.

Clarence Majoko from Tsonga Chronicles, a local events company, told GroundUp that a new stadium could bring significant economic growth. “It would attract major events, which would also help with employment, especially for young people,” he said.

GroundUp started asking Bobodi questions about the stadium’s completion in early July. We reminded him again on 16 July, and on 12 August, we called and reminded him again. He asked us to send another inquiry, which we did. We followed up again on 21 August and 23 August, including questions about how much had been spent so far. On 26 August, he promised a response by the next day. However, when GroundUp called on 27 August, he said he still could not answer our questions.

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