DA pledges support to #SaveCaledonian campaign
The DA plans to stop the demolition of the historic Caledonian sports ground.
Efforts by DA mayoral candidate Solly Msimanga to stop the metro’s plan to demolish the historic Caledonian Stadium are falling on deaf ears.
This lack of response by Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, has prompted residents to start the #SaveCaledonian campaign.
According to Msimanga, the campaign represented a “united front against the mayor’s misguided plans and his complete disregard for the residents who are opposed to the destruction of the Caledonian”.
The campaign managers hoped the mayor would hear their pleas and stop the demolition.
Msimanga said he had urged Ramokgopa to suspend his plan to evict the Arcadia Shepherds and other football clubs that have been calling the Caledonian Stadium home for the past 113 years.
“Despite my request that the mayor reply within 48 hours, Ramokgopa has not responded and [therefore] failed to do the right thing to save the stadium.”
He said it was clear that the mayor and the ANC did not care about the hundreds of children from under-resourced schools who would be deprived of their only sporting facility in the area should the mayor bulldoze the stadium.
He added that Ramokgopa seemed not to care about the thousands of students who make use of the stadium who have voiced their complete disbelief at the mayor’s proposal to flatten this heritage site.
The teams and the youth said they were not consulted about the alleged plan for a new-state-of-the-art park.
Msimanga said he pledged his full support to #SaveCaledonian, which was formed by concerned Pretorians and Caledonian residents.
“I join forces with residents in their campaign to save the stadium. Together with the residents, I will pursue all available avenues to prevent this crime against the city.”
“The DA fully throws its weight behind stopping Sputla [Ramokgopa] from demolishing the Caledonian Stadium,” he said.
He said he was against the demolition because only 10% of schools in the country offered sport at school.
“The stadium provides children with what under-resourced schools in the Tshwane area cannot: access to sports fields.”
“Ramokgopa cannot in good conscience abandon the children of Tshwane by demolishing the Caledonian, which serves as a place of safety where children go to keep off the streets, off drugs and off crime,” said Msimanga.
Msimanga said the deadline for the clubs to vacate the Caledonian Stadium was two weeks ago.
Blessing Manale said plans to demolish the stadium for the new state-of-the-art park were underway.
He said political grandstanding by the DA was an attempt to create false hope in the management and club owners of Pretoria Callies (football club), despite the knowledge of the inevitability of the development of the park.
Also read:
Residents want Caledonian stadium revamped
Temporary reprieve for Caledonian Stadium
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