Deputy Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya visited both Odi and HM Pitje stadiums to acquaint herself with the present status of the two venues on last Friday.
“We will be starting a public participation process regarding the two venues and obviously I want to get a report from the relevant officials as to what the historical issues which led us here are,” she explained.
At Odi stadium in Mabopane it was heart-warming to find some people using the facility to train.
This is good for the health of our nation.
The stadium is secured now but unfortunately it can’t be used by the general public as there are structural defects there,” she said.
Dr Moya said she spoke to stakeholders who were there at Odi stadium and they expressed a wish to have the stadium working for them again as was the case in the past.
Odi Stadium in Mabopane was built by the apartheid era Bantustan government of Bophuthatswana under the leadership of Lucas Mangope in the 1980s.
The venue was used during those years by professional soccer teams in South Africa including Mamelodi Sundown’s and other professional football teams.
“Hundred and twenty-six million rand later, this is what we see,” said a dejected Moya in reference to the present state of affairs at HN Pitje Stadium, which cost millions of rand when the Gauteng Provincial government attempted to turn it into a world class stadium.
That ended up as a dumping site.
“There is a long, painful history regarding the failed reconstruction of the stadium but now we as the City of Tshwane are taking control of what needs to happen next at this stadium.
That’s why we are engaging in a public participation process with the aim of entering into a lease agreement with interested developers and bringing back HM to its former glory as the people of Mamelodi know it,” explained Moya.
HM Pitje was built in the early 1960″s by the apartheid government as a multi-purpose sports venue for the residents of Mamelodi.
Moya emphasised that the task of reconstructing both HM Pitje and Odi stadiums is not going to be a short term one.
She explained that the relevance of creating the position of the deputy mayor is to have a person who will focus on failed projects like HM Pitje and Odi stadiums who will physically go to such projects and later give the City of Tshwane first hand information regarding these failed projects.
“It is dangerous to leave a venue like HM Pitje as a dumping site as this will lead to rogue elements committing gender based violence crimes there.
People passing near the stadium won’t be safe,” she said.
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