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Crumbling Sizakele Khanzi Sports Centre a monument to neglect and mismanagement

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Dear MyPE

The Sizakele Khanzi Sports Centre is dilapidated and unusable because the ANC used it as a project to dish out contracts, with absolutely no foresight, which has not benefited the people at all. This is a sports centre that could have provided countless jobs and recreational facilities to local NMB residents.

It is the duty of local government to deliver services to the people and yet, time and time again, we see the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality fail to deliver anything at all. Where houses should be, we see shacks. Where roads should be, we see potholes and gravel. Where toilets should be, we see buckets. Where a sports centre should be, we see crumbling walls and grazing livestock. Where honest leaders should be, we see corrupt ANC cadres.

Everywhere I go, I see collapsing recreational and sporting facilities. What should have been a Soccer World Cup legacy that left our Metro with outstanding facilities, we see gravel soccer and rugby fields, abandoned multi-purpose centres and stagnant swimming pools.

The DA suggests a 5-point turnaround and prevention plan, as follows:

  1. Action forensic audit on supply chain management as they relate to sports and multi-purpose centres and facilities. Prosecute any official found guilty of side-stepping supply chain management.
  2. Implement budget monitoring systems to ensure sufficient operation capital.
  3. Zero-tolerance on political interference. Prosecute any individual found guilty of political interference.
  4. Implement maintenance procedures which ensure regular upkeep of all municipal buildings and facilities.
  5. Set out a standard operating procedure to ensure seamless cohesion and coordination between all spheres of government, especially in the sports, recreation, arts and culture departments.

Millions and millions of rands have been wasted here in KwaNobuhle. Money that should have been carefully managed and spent to ensure optimal benefit to the people of this Metro. Aspiring athletes should be given the platform on which to work towards reaching their dreams. Furthermore, a caring government should provide our youth with adequate recreational and sporting facilities to keep them off the streets and away from gangs and drugs.

However, as we see over and over again with ANC governments – municipal projects are dished out unfairly to a small patronage network, excluding the majority, the workmanship is totally unacceptable, large amounts of money go missing, budget isn’t set aside for maintenance, management and supervision, and thus the projects fail to deliver.

The Sizakele Khanzi Sports Centre is yet another monument to this sort of ANC mismanagement and neglect.

The DA is set on winning Nelson Mandela Bay in next year’s elections, so that projects such as this are delivered efficiently first time around and maintained throughout. The DA is committed to building a caring Metro – one that listens to its people and delivers on its promises.

Regards

Athol Trollip

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Port Elizabethan

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