A number of towns in the North West province, including Mahikeng and Lichtenburg, were formerly renowned for their outstanding Arts and Sporting facilities.
These towns once proudly offered state-of-the-art amenities like recreational centres, tennis courts, multi-purpose stadiums, and cricket pitches, which were used by numerous teams. However, regrettably, these facilities have suffered from significant neglect over the years.
In Lichtenburg, a tennis club was burned down and never repaired and a sports stadium, often used for rugby, has been left to rot for years.
However, Darius Venter, who coached and chaired the Lichtenburg Rugby Club says they had to end the deal as the Ditsobotla local municipality allegedly breached the contract by allowing other sports teams to use the facility without assisting with maintenance.
Venter says, “We felt that if we had to give up our agreement and we don’t have charge of the club, then the municipality and the soccer teams had to assist us in the maintenance of the stadium. None of them wanted to assist, they just wanted to use the facility but they don’t want to assist to maintain the facility.”
“We actually gave them the idea of, obviously, every team needs to do a booking when you want to use the stadium, and then charge them rental for the stadium to maintain the stadium, and even that they didn’t want. “
Lichtenburg and Mahikeng residents are not happy with the state of neglected facilities that once produced great talent.
One resident says, “I’m not happy with the North West government for the fact that it does not take care of our buildings like look for example Mmabana is abandoned. I’m not happy at all.”
The Ditsobotla municipality says its financial woes have contributed to facilities being in poor condition.
Municipality Mayor, Thabo Nkashe says, “The reason for the dilapidation is lack of security. As we know that the Ditsobotla Local Municipality is in a dire financial situation. We didn’t manage to pay up our security personnel, then our security personnel decided to vacate the place. The solution is that we are appealing to the business people to come on board and give support to protecting our facilities. He/she is welcome to do so.”
The municipality has committed to hire security companies by the end of July to protect the facilities from further vandalism and theft.
