The Corner Flag: Playgrounds of decay
The city's recreational facilities in most areas are crumbling due to neglect and lack of maintenance.
It no longer hurts to see crumbling sports facilities in Ekurhuleni. What stings is knowing most were inherited from the past government – all the new dispensation had to do was maintain them.
In places like Actonville, it has failed dismally. Two years ago, the Benoni City Times raised alarm over the state of the Actonville sports facility.
What we found then was shameful – tennis courts swallowed by weeds, litter piled high and heaps of cut grass dumped and forgotten, the product of a box-ticking clean-up job by City of Ekurhuleni (CoE).
Fast forward to today, and the picture hasn’t changed – the same overgrowth, the same filth and the same neglect. Two years of empty promises later, Actonville’s children are still being told, in no uncertain terms, that their sporting dreams don’t matter.
A stroll down Mayet Drive after attending the Actonville Spurs Cricket Club awards gala on Saturday evening told a story of neglect impossible to ignore.
What was once a proud sports hub for Actonville now stands as a haunting reminder of how little the CoE values township children and their right to safe, clean and inspiring spaces to play. The netball, basketball and tennis courts are choked by grass, smothered in weeds and surrounded by mountains of litter, a story of decay where dreams should be nurtured.
This is not just an eyesore. It’s a statement. It says to the children of Actonville that they don’t deserve better. It says to the parents and coaches who believe in the power of sport that their voices are ignored. And it raises an ugly question: is this neglect accidental, or is it proof that the municipality simply does not care about young people of this city?
Has the ward councillor held anyone accountable for this neglect? Or has the community stepped in, like Clean Projects and others have done in the north and CBD? I wonder.
Sports are not just about games. It’s about building discipline, character and leadership. It keeps young people away from destructive choices and gives them hope of becoming something greater. When courts are left to rot and facilities to crumble, the city steals these opportunities from these children.
Of course, not all blame lies with the municipality.
The mounds of trash strewn across the courts show another side of the story, which is the failure of some in our community to take pride in shared spaces. The result is a facility so disgusting, it sends the message that no one values it – not the city, not even the people meant to benefit from it.
The question now is how many times must the CoE be reminded of its responsibility?
What more must residents do to prove that sports are not a luxury but a necessity in shaping tomorrow’s leaders?
Until the city wakes up and the community itself takes ownership of protecting what little it has, the courts of Mayet Drive will remain a symbol of broken dreams.
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