Ward 102 councillor Lucinda Harman has launched a petition to mobilise public support for the different sporting teams at the Randburg Sports Precinct, which has been neglected by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) administration.
The precinct is home for different sports codes including hockey, 5 a-side soccer, rugby, football, basketball, and more. Residents and representatives of the different codes gathered at Laerskool Fontainebleau for a public meeting to express their concerns, and demand answers from the city. Unfortunately, no representatives from CoJ were present, neither were representatives from the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) nor the Sport and Recreation Department.
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A lot of issues faced by the sports codes were raised, but the rising crime, and the lease issue, was first and foremost on everyone’s minds. Other issues included the maintenance of the facilities and security, which is supposed to be provided by the city.
Most of the sports codes are threatened, as they struggle to secure long term leases for the facilities at the precinct. That has resulted in sponsorship being lost, a decline in attendance, and spending money from their own pockets to maintain the facility.
Harman said that most people are not using the precinct, because of the issues the city is neglecting. “The city has failed to keep the precinct safe from crime, to maintain infrastructure, and to sign leases with the sporting codes, which would give them the security of occupation they need to attract meaningful private sector sponsorship.”
She added that this is not just a problem for the thousands of residents who depend on the precinct, but also a gut-punch to the local economy. “Top level sporting facilities allow for top competition. Competitions of national and international significance bring athletes and supporters from the rest of the country, and from overseas. That means hotels, restaurants, and shops benefit. No competition means no benefits to the economy.”
The sporting codes are confident that the sponsorships are out there, and that would allow their facilities to be brought to the top level.
Andrew Collison, of the Digger Rugby Club, explained that they need a lease to be able to invest in their grounds. “Running the club is very expensive. To keep the fields and the lights working, paying the staff to make sure the grounds are cut, and security, which is major concern, all that come out of our pockets.”
He added that he has been involved for over 10 years, but he has never seen a proper lease. “Only month to month, or three months. Sometimes up to a year. No sponsor can take that seriously. We have had sponsors coming, but they left because of these issues.”
Lucky Sindane, spokesperson for the JPC, confirmed that the entity is aware of issues surrounding the precinct and is working together with community development to deal with them.
According to Sindane, the precinct is occupied by community development, JPC, and a number of sporting codes either leasing directly from them or provided with permission to occupy by community development. The responsibility to manage the facility is delegated to the user of the facility, via permission to occupy and build (PTOB), or lease agreement.
There is still a lot that can be done to improve the precinct. He shared the following on their immediate action points:
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities between entities is among the things that needed to be resolved. This will assist in managing expectations and holding each other accountable.
• Effect repairs and maintenance on the fence gates on both entrances of the precinct.
• Enter into long term leases with the different sporting codes.
• Monitor the PTOB and lease agreement conditions, especially the clause about repairs and maintenance.
“Unfortunately, the leases have expired. We are in the process of entering into new leases with different sporting codes,” Sindane added. “Community development has issued permission to occupy letters to the different sporting codes in the precinct. The tenure for this letter varies from three months to 12 months. The new leases will be for a longer period of 9 years, eleven months. The longer tenure will enable the sporting codes to get the necessary capital to invest in the property.”
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