Nieuw Muckleneuk tennis court falling into disrepair
The Tshwane metro has no plans to renovate or redevelop the facility.
A tennis court in the east of Pretoria remains unused as the Tshwane metro shows no interest in letting locals use it.
The Tshwane metro has no plan to renovate the Nieuw Muckleneuk tennis court in Bronkhorst Street, which had over the years fallen into disrepair.
According to ward councillor Jerad Frimmel, the area is plagued by informal car guards and traders who sleep in the park overnight and work in the area during the day.
“We are actively engaging with the municipality to lease the park and erect a fence to prevent people from sleeping and erecting structures in it,” Frimmel said.
Image: Facebook/Old East Security Forum
Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the old tennis facility is zoned as a public open space and had been leased to the Nieuw Muckleneuk Tennis Club since June 1968.
He said the lease was later cancelled due to a decline in memberships and there has been no interest in establishing a new club.
“The old clubhouse was vandalised and became home to vagrants with many illegal activities on the premises,” said Mashigo.
He said the facility was demolished during a joint operation between the relevant role players on July 15.
“Atterbury Property Developers applied to buy the property, which led to a court case that has been ongoing since recently,” he said.
“No further applications for the lease of the property could be processed due to the pending court case.”
Image: Old east forum facebook page
Mashigo said during this time there was a dispute regarding who was responsible for the maintenance of the facility, although the metro continued to prune trees and cut grass.
He said that there is neither a plan nor a budget to renovate or redevelop the tennis court.
“There is no budget allocated for the metro to establish new tennis courts,” said Mashigo.
Mashigo added that the Gauteng North Tennis Federation has also indicated that there is no need for additional courts in the area.
He said metro police by-law enforcement received sporadic complaints about vagrancy, which they attended to.
“A diamond mesh fence was erected around the property by various businesses; however, it is also dilapidated.”
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