City embarks on public participation process for Stables development

THE public participation process surrounding the development of the Durban football Academy will soon be underway, according to eThekwini officials who presented the matter to Exco last week.

Last week media reports announced that the city faced escalating costs to move the Metro Police Mounted Unit which is stabled at The Stables to a new venue. In response, the municipality’s head of communications, Tozi Mthethwa, said the municipality could not comment about the situation or the controversy surrounding the Stables matter until the public consultation process had been finalised.

“The public process participation is a requirement in terms of Regulation 34 (3)(b) and Regulation 35 of the Municipal Asset Transfer Regulation for a period of 30 days. The local community will be invited to submit comments and make representations. Comments will also be solicited from the national and provincial treasury,” said Mthethwa.

Newspaper reports last week indicated that the city would have to fork out R30 million to relocate the equestrian unit from the Newmarket Stables to Westville, raising concerns that this would impact on the funding for service provision projects.

Commenting on the issue, ward councillor Martin Meyer said there had been no oversigh, and the cost implications were huge. He said he felt the relocation of the mounted unit had been kept under wraps and felt the municipality should never have made deals to move away from land that was perfectly good to be used for horses.

Nadine Parker from the Newmarket Stables said this was yet another example of city officials not thinking things through.

“The mounted unit is an essential crime combat unit on our beaches, especially during holiday time and are able to pursue criminals where vehicles just cannot go. They are a fantastic dedicated bunch of policeman. To move them away from Durban is absurd. Would the city move the city manager to Cape Town so he could perform his functions in Durba? Horses generally do not like boxing and this only makes them more stressed and less effective. If access was given to the unit to move from where they are to the mashee course, they would then have a more direct access to the beach. We have the Commonwealth Games in 2022, this unit is going to be a critical part of the crime prevention strategy during that time, they need to be in the area,” she said.

Parker said she felt the estimated R30 million in costs was going to absorb every cent of possible financial contribution by the province to the development.

However, Mthethwa confirmed that the football academy would be devloped on the property surrounding Masabalala Yengwa Avenue, Smiso Nkwanyana Road and Jacko Jackson Drive in Stamford Hill.

A Memorandum Of Agreement was signed between the Municipality, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sports and Recreation and Hoy Park Management in June. In October, Council resolved to a 30 year lease on the existing buildings on the premises to Hoy Park Management for the development of the Sports Academy.

“The objectives of the facility are to promote athletic excellence as well as provide education opportunities, promote a healthy lifestyle and positive values while creating social awareness and responsibility. The academy will be providing 120 children with accommodation, education, social skills, religion and financial assistance and will promote the City as a prime destination for international and local teams for preseason and season camps. It will attract foreign investment and exposure internationally,” said Mthethwa.