The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is disappointed to learn that children and sporting clubs in Ward 82 of the City of Johannesburg (COJ) still have no access to the newly renovated Union Stadium and are forced to use dusty playgrounds due to shoddy workmanship at the stadium.
The City of Johannesburg has spent over R21.6 million renovating the Union Stadium yet the stadium has huge cracks inside the building and is not safe for use by the public.
This was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile in a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).
According to MEC Maile, the Union Stadium is owned by the COJ and is managed by the Community Development, Sport and Recreation Department -Region B. COJ has spent R21 618 597.00 renovating the stadium yet it is still closed and not accessible to the public because it was condemned by OHASA in 2017 due to a huge crack inside the building. The entire building within the stadium including the changing rooms and toilets were closed as it was declared not safe for use by the general public.
This is one of many examples of shoddy workmanship which is unacceptable and a waste of rate-payers money.
If there was a proper management of this project, these identified cracks could have been fixed by the service provider who was awarded the tender to renovate the stadium. COJ now has to allocate additional budget to fix the stadium which is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
It has become a norm for government to start projects that benefit the community and then either fail to complete them or there is shoddy workmanship. In all these cases, the residents are always on the losing end of the stick.
Local sporting clubs are in dire need of proper sporting facilities such as this stadium so as to nurture and develop young sporting talent from the grassroots level.
Furthermore, it is worrying that the stadium was stripped bare by thieves and vandals, yet there are Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) security services on the site. It concerns the DA greatly when the City’s security services are failing to safeguard our most needed community assets.
The DA will write to the COJ to ascertain their intentions with regards to the stadium, demand time frames as to when will the cracks be fixed and when the stadium will be reopened.
Athletes and sports men and women need of such facilities to advance their talents to greater heights and to be able to compete with the rest of the world. We cannot allow our talented people to suffer and their hopes and dreams shuttered. We will continue to put pressure on the COJ to fix the stadium so that it can be fully utilised by the community.
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