Sandton community demands answers over George Lea Park usage

Community representatives and Sandton Sports Club board members are seeking clarity from the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) after receiving, what they describe as, conflicting information regarding the future use of the sports fields at George Lea Park.

Public meeting promised shared access

In a public meeting held at the park on April 16, JPC presented plans to allocate the cricket field located inside the park to the City of Johannesburg community development: Sports and recreation department.

JPC presented the proposal as part of a legacy project in order to train the team for the upcoming 2027 Cricket World Cup.

Read more: Illovo residents may soon get answers on vacant city property

JCPZ leasing management and sales general manager Sipho Mzobe told attendees that community development had formally requested control of the space to support cricket development. He reassured residents that existing users would retain access to other parts of the facility, including five-a-side soccer and tennis courts.

“I know the community might be worried that this means there’s not going to be cricket in George Lea Park. No, that would be incorrect.

“There will still be cricket, it’s just that cricket will be run by community development, working together with Lions Cricket. This is going to be a shared space, but priority will be given to cricket. We are not cancelling any sports that are currently happening on this site.”

Stakeholders claim message changed

However, Ward 90 councillor Renate van Onselen and Parkmore Community Association manager and Sandton Sports Club board member Lori Klein said a different message emerged during the stakeholder meeting held on May 19.

“At a public meeting, JPC and community development provided promises, hand-to-mouth, that this place was going to be shared and still usable by the community,” Van Onselen said.

“However, at the meeting held on May 19 between community development, Sandton Sports Club, and some of the other sporting stakeholders, JPC was noticeably absent, but it was made 100% clear that there will be no sharing of the field. Cricket will use it 24/7, depending on the season.”

Concerns over lease renewal delays

Van Onselen added that the uncertainty surrounding the site has been compounded by JPC’s delays in renewing the lease with Sandton Sports Club, which is located inside George Lea Park.

Also read: City of Johannesburg denies the failure of its billing system

According to Van Onselen, the club started engaging with JPC as early as 2022 regarding the lease renewal, after its agreement was due to expire in early 2024.

“[Sandton Sports Club] were informed that they had to improve the drainage around the field, which they did at huge expense to them. Here we are now, three years later, the lease is yet to be renewed and JPC has now decided to give the space to community development for a cricket world cup legacy project.”

Community questions loss of sporting space

Klein said they are failing to understand why an active and well-utilised facility is being repurposed at the expense of existing users. “For years these fields have been used by soccer teams, cricket players, athletics groups, yoga classes, and residents.

The fields are utilised a lot of the time by community members, but now we’re told that the field is no longer going to be available for them.

“Taking the field away now from the community, from all the sport players, it’s like taking a business away from people and telling them, ‘I’m sorry you can’t use the space anymore, you can close your business down or find other premises somewhere’.”

She added that during the public meeting, field users agreed that they’d be happy to work with a cricket club to share the space, “but it seems like there’s no opportunity for them to share the space. It’s as simple as that.”

Calls for clarity from JPC

Sandton Chronicle reached out to JPC spokesperson Lucky Sindane on June 5, for a comment regarding the contradiction between the April public meeting and the May stakeholder engagement.

Follow up enquiries were sent, but no comment had been received by the time of publication.

Follow us on our WhatsApp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!