Tennis court on the verge of collapse

Madam – Arbor tennis courts on the verge of collapse.

Arbor Park Tennis courts belong to the Newcastle Municipality, yet no maintenance is done; they are cracking and fencing is falling.

Tennis club committee has written many letters and approached Newcastle officials and the councillor of Ward 25 to assist, with no help forthcoming.

We are told that the matter was referred to the Exco of Newcastle and rejected the requests without giving reasons. Instead they have opted to erect tennis courts at Ingagane without any request from the Ingagane community.

One wonders why things are done like this by the municipality.

One tennis coach from Arbor Park Tennis Club indicated that tennis was the only code that had won Gold in the SALGA Games for two consecutive years, yet there was no support from the local municipality.

The only person who is trying her best from the Newcastle Municipality is Portia, yet she has received no support from senior officials. The problem from our municipality is that councillors have no interest in sports, as elections are coming they will be asking for votes while they do not attend to people’s needs.

Whenever we ask for resurfacing of the tennis courts, we are told that people have no houses.

The need for houses shall not come to an end, existing infrastructure must be maintained no matter what. We are requesting any individual or business people to sponsor the resurfacing of the tennis courts.

There are about 80 children who play over the weekends but the condition is horrible, We appreciate help from Cllr J C N Khumalo and Deptartment of Sport and Recreation officials as they are the only people who assist and help us.

Anonymous

Response from the Editor:

The letter above was sent to the Newcastle Municipality for comment. To date, no response has been given.