The ball has been dropped with the painting of Steiltes reservoir, as the City of Mbombela (CoM) and other parties dispute who should be held accountable for the half-dressed eyesore.

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The soccer ball-reservoir was originally painted for the Fifa World Cup in 2010 and Silulumanzi, the CoM and BUCO joined hands in 2018 to plan its renovation after it became a tourist attraction for the city. Jeff Nkuna, the CoM’s senior manager of spatial planning, shared details on what led to the termination of the project in a recent report.

“On June 22, 2024, a proposal was received from Patel Hardware to utilise the Eye of Mbombela by painting it green. It was to help with their marketing campaign for the opening of a new hardware store in Riverside.

“The proposal was then referred to Akrosscom Sotobe Media, as the company responsible for managing all council infrastructure on behalf of the municipality for the purposes of commercial advertising. Upon completion of the campaign, the soccer ball would be restored to its original condition,” said Nkuna.

He further shared that on July 30, 2024, a permission letter issued to Patel Hardware to start the project. After commencing with the painting, Patel was instructed to cease with work by Silulumanzi, as they indicated that they were not aware of the agreement between the two parties, or the tender awarded to Akrosscom Sotobe Media.

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The project was halted for almost eight months before recommencing again on February 25 this year.
Patel Hardware was unable to proceed, due to high costs, and the marketing project had lapsed, with another campaign in progress to open another hardware store.

The Department of City Planning and Development had supported the proposal from Patel, as the Eye of Mbombela is currently a crime hotspot for drugs.

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Cllr Sanley van der Merwe agreed that the project is expensive, with scaffolding costs estimated at R100 000.

“We plan to meet with stakeholders to see if there is a way to finish the project, since up to now it has only been disappointing,” Van der Merwe confirmed.

Shyam Misra, the managing director of Silulmanzi, also confirmed: “The CoM needs to revert to Silulumanzi regarding access to the site. We are willing to discuss new strategies.”

Lowvelder requested a comment from Patel, but had not received it by the time of publishing.