Recreation hall now a sorry sight
Broken windows and doors, rusting gutters, and an unkempt garden - these are just some of the sights that greet visitors at the Lydenburg Recreation Hall.
LYDENBURG – Broken windows and doors, rusting gutters, and an unkempt garden – these are just some of the sights that greet visitors at the Lydenburg Recreation Hall.
Once a place of memorable community events, the building has now been deserted by Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM). According to the municipal spokesman,
Mr Puleng Mapheto, the hall is being leased to Bible Life Ministries which means it is no longer responsible for the maintenance.
However, Dr Kayembe Kazadi, pastor at this church, said they never received a return permission and were told to use the hall until then.
“We are still waiting for the written response from the municipality,” he said. The church wrote a letter to TCM on November 12, whereby it requested permission to use the hall but that it remain open to the community. If this is true, council remains responsible for its maintenance.
When Steelburger/Lydenburg News visited the hall, there were no security guards and there were people living in the back.
Mapheto said the municipality was not aware of this and would investigate.
“TCM will probe if there are indeed people living there, since our agreement with the church is that it will be used for services,” he explained.
Kazadi said he knew there were people living in the hall. “When we started using the premises we found them there and since it is not our property, we did not question the municipality,” he explained.
Chairman for AfriForum Lydenburg, Mr Leon de Jager said that in the past few years the hall has been used for various events, and community members would book it for events. “The residents used to fill in a form, pay a deposit and after using the hall, they would receive their money back.
However, they would only receive the full amount if there were no damages. It is the municipality’s responsibility to ensure that public property is maintained,” he added.
It is alleged that the people living in the hall are employees of the former security company who were safeguarding the premises.
According to Mapheto it is the responsibility of the church to maintain the hall.
“We have a budget for all the halls and it has been approved, however, we cannot say exactly when repair- work will be done,” said Mapheto.
