Rubbish continues to pile up at Sinaba Athletics Stadium
The track itself is in a state of disrepair with potholes littering the ring posing massive injury concerns for those athletes who continue to use the facility.
Peter Molapo, DA PR councillor in Ekurhuleni said;
Once a symbol of pride for the residents of Daveyton, the Sinaba Athletics Stadium finds itself in a state of complete disarray.
The stadium that was once a popular site for sports gatherings, music concerts and other social events now resembles more of a dumping ground.
What was once an athletics track is now scattered with rubble, litter and animal carcasses leading to rat infestation which pose major health and safety risks for the surrounding community.
The track itself is in a state of disrepair with potholes littering the ring posing massive injury concerns for those athletes who continue to use the facility.
The need for green spaces and sports facilities, such as the stadium, have become even more important during the lockdown associated with Covid-19.
After extended periods of being forced indoors, members of the community have not only been deprived of regular exercise, but also face increasing risk to their mental health.
This highlights the necessity for the City of Ekurhuleni to ensure that public facilities are sufficiently maintained, which are important sources to alleviate stress.
The stadiums decline is synonymous with the poor governance demonstrated by the ANC-led coalition in Ekurhuleni and is indicative of how the administration has let many facilities in the Metro deteriorate to a state of disrepair.
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The DA in Ekurhuleni considers the stadium’s decline completely unacceptable and call on the MMC for Infrastructure Services, Masele Madihlaba, to urgently address the deteriorating state of the facility.
After the DA in Ekurhuleni exposed the neglect of the stadium, the metro has hurriedly jumped to clean the facility as an attempt to avoid embarrassment.
While the cleaning is welcomed, it is a superficial attempt by the CoE to try and save face as the cleaning does not detract from the fact that the fence is still riddled with holes and illegal dumping will continue unabated.
It is a shame that Daveyton residents have to endure such an unresponsive administration when it comes to service delivery issues.
Residents should not have to continuously complain until the CoE takes any action.
It makes a mockery of the “Siyaqhuba – We are Working” programme promoted by the City.
The need for green spaces and sports facilities, such as the stadium, have become even more important during the lockdown associated with Covid-19.
After extended periods of being forced indoors, members of the community have not only been deprived of regular exercise, but also face increasing risk to their mental health.
This highlights the necessity for the City of Ekurhuleni to ensure that public facilities are sufficiently maintained, which are important sources to alleviate stress.
This stopgap measure will not help to repair any of the ailing infrastructure of the Stadium and the facility remains a health and safety concern.
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For this reason, the DA calls for a total overhaul of the Stadium to meet the needs of the Daveyton community.
We further call on residents to support our petition to help achieve these ends, by clicking on the link below:
https://www.petitions.net/restore_the_sinaba_athletics_stadium
From the Metro, Nhlanhla Cebekhulu, Divisional Head of Communication and Media Relations said;
In the 2019/20 financial year the City started to refurbish some of the amenities of the stadium to ensure that the community can utilise it, viz. the sitting area and the ablution facilities.
It still remains the aspiration of the City to continue with further upgrades of the stadium, the athletics track in particular.
During the lockdown period which had impact on the maintenance of the mentioned stadium area, there was no personnel to maintain it.
The Department has recalled some of the personnel to carrying out site inspections and report on the areas that need urgent attention.
This is one of the properties in the City’s Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Department that has been earmarked for grounds cleaning and maintenance for athletics and some non-contact sports to start to utilise it.
The area of the fence with rubble was, at some point in the 2018/19 reported for repairs and was done after the Department cleared the rubble from site.
It has become a challenge for the Department to repair the same area which was once attended to.
The Department has earmarked to repair the entire perimeter fence and the two entrance gates in the 2020/21 financial year to curb the illegal dumping, subject to availability of the budget.
