R8.1 million to construct a sports field in Acaciavale? Is that what Ladysmith needs? These are the questions being asked by many people living in our town.
“Why is the municipality spending millions of rands on a sports field when they can use that money to maintain our town?” asks concerned resident Mrs Rampersad.
Mrs Rampersad adds that there is already a sports field in Acaciavale, so why don’t they refurbish that one instead of building another one?
“Save money instead of wasting it,” she fumes.
She furthermore says that the sports field in this area is hardly used by the youth, except on Saturdays when children play soccer or cricket.
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“I feel the municipality should fix all our service delivery issues instead of wasting money on facilities we don’t need.”
There are many sports fields in Ladysmith and according to many people, most of them are hardly used by the youth due to vandalism, so it’s a waste of ratepayers’ money to construct another sporting facility.
Alfred Duma Local Municipality Mayor Vincent Madlala, Deputy Mayor T Hadebe, Speaker T Ngubane and Chief Whip T Njapha performed a sod-turning ceremony in the Acaciavale area recently, where the sports field will be constructed.
As part of the Municipal Thuma Mina Programme, Ward Cllr T Njoko hosted the activity.
Members of the Ward 20 community were invited to attend this meeting as part of the introduction of the contractor. At the event, Mayor Madlala took the platform to introduce KPA Civils (Pty) Ltd, as mandated by Supply Chain Management processes to construct the over-R8 million sports field.
Facility Features
According to the municipality, the facility is set to accommodate a soccer field, change rooms, a cricket court, two combo courts, an outdoor gym, security and access control building, as well as parking, and the project will also benefit the community through job opportunities during and after the construction phase.
Mr Alf Lees MP of the Democratic Alliance (DA) commented that the DA is concerned to hear that at a time of financial crisis in South Africa and with 9.7 million South Africans out of work, R8.1 million can be spent on a sports field.
“Even if funded by the Department of Sport & Recreation, it remains taxpayers’ money that should be used to stimulate growth and provide services to poor South Africans.
“The municipality could start by cleaning up the filth around Acaciavale, especially the area around the refuse
dump, and provide a refuse removal service to the people of Ntombi’s Camp,” says Mr Lees.
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