
The Mogale City community recently showed how they could work together when more than 200 people showed up to help clean the dilapidated Bob van Reenen Stadium.
One of the first things that Executive Mayor Tyrone Gray put in place was the Tshepang Beke Le Beke clean-up campaign. Every month they clean up a part of our beautiful Mogale City.

In December they focused on parts of the CBD and in January they made the stadium one of their projects. This clean-up was facilitated by AfriForum Krugersdorp and on January 8 and 9, AfriForum, the municipality and community members got to work.
We are glad that the community came together. Not only political parties were involved, but the elderly, parents, children and friends,” said Martin Lombard, chairperson of AfriForum Krugersdorp.
They had their work cut out for them and on Saturday the teams cut the grass, removed overgrown reeds and cleaned up the track. On Sunday they removed all the rubbish.
This projects also formed part of Councillor Mark Trump’s plans to upgrade his ward. He told the News that the clean-up would be an ongoing operation facilitated by AfriForum, and anyone who is interested in helping to revitalise the community is welcome to participate. The question is, what will happen after the stadium has been cleaned up? Will it just be left again?

Mayor Gray explained that an item will be submitted to council to approve a public private partnership. This means that the municipality may appoint a private entity to manage the stadium. He added that he would be receiving monthly reports to ensure that it is managed properly.
“We want it to be a recreation centre for the whole community to use,” he added.

There are already plans in place to redo the track and put up the necessary lighting at Bob van Reenen. Mark said it was important to remember that the Bob van Reenen Stadium was once an International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) approved stadium and one of the top five stadiums for high-altitude training. Martin said this project was two years in the making and the stadium had been abandoned for more than ten years.
“By restoring this stadium we can bolster tourism and the local economy again,” Mark said.

The Bob van Reenen Stadium is not the only facility that the municipality has their sights set on, and Mayor Gray explained that they plan on taking a look at restoring many of the facilities in Mogale City that have been forgotten.
Another clean-up will be taking place this weekend.








