Ward 102 councillor Lucinda Harman urges Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) to retract the lease of the sports clubs at Ferndale Recreation Centre, and start the process over in an ethical, proper, and transparent manner.

The property is home for the Ferndale Bowling Club, with two beautiful greens. The Johannesburg North Darts Association also plays out of the club’s premises, along with a dancing and book club. There are also tennis and netball courts inside the property.

Read more: Major issues being addressed in Ward 102

According to Harman, JPC are planning to lease out a number of the clubs, except for the Ferndale Recreation Centre.

She explained that residents, and councillors, were left in the dark, and key steps appear to have been skipped, or executed poorly.

@caxtonjoburgnorth Ward 102 councillor Lucinda Harman at the Ferndale Recreation Centre on July 29, 2025. #Ward102 #Randburg ♬ original sound Caxton Joburg North

In November 2024, JPC tabled the centre at the council’s agenda, requesting authorisation to initiate public participation for the long-term leasing.

“Although approval was granted, the process was not immediately initiated,” said Harman. “On June 4, 2025, a notice appeared in the Provincial Gazette, declaring the city’s intention to transfer the properties. No notification of the Gazette notice was provided to the affected councillors or the community. The notice only came to light when a colleague privately forwarded a copy of the Gazette to one of the councillors on July 15.”

Harman further stated that the way this process was handled, from conflicting dates, to a lack of transparency, to notices that nobody saw, raises serious questions about whether legal and procedural obligations were met. “A notice got put up, some time, outside the recreation facility, but they never told anybody here, no date on it, and no plan of what they’re going to do. They never gave the opportunity to me, or to the residents, to take part in public participation. That is what you have to do in the City of Johannesburg. JPC cannot just go around selling, leasing, or alienating properties as they want.”

Michiel van Niekerk, president of the bowling club, confirmed that nobody notified them of the intended lease. “We have been a bowling club since 1977 and have three provincial bowlers. If we have to give up the premises, then a lot of history will be lost, and one of the better bowling greens in the Johannesburg Bowling Association will be lost.”

Harman added that JPC cannot take the facilities away and lease them to who knows what. “Why did JPC not go to the clubs that are there, and give them an extended lease. They could have raised the price with no further problem, but they didn’t.

“This is not something you do to any club that has been here this long. That’s a slap in the face of any sports club in Ferndale. JPC needs to do the right thing. Go back to the beginning, when they put out things, in a transparent manner, not hide them in a Gazette.”

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