GladAfrica clubs in Limpopo consider moving due to high stadium tariffs

The three GladAfrica championship clubs in the Vhembe district of Limpopo are considering moving away from the area due to high tariffs of playing at the Thohoyandou stadium.

The teams, Venda Football Academy, Tshakuma Tsha Madzivandila, and Black Leopards, which have all registered the Thooyandou stadium as their home ground, are required to pay R27 000 per match to use the facility.

Black Leopards has already played its first game at the Old Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane over the weekend.

The club Spokesperson, Divhambele Mbalavhali, says they would like to reach a workable agreement with the Thulamela Municipality.

“If we reach a point where we are in agreement, we will use Thohoyandou stadium for all our home games. I don’t think it’s all about a specific figure that one would want to pay, it’s about being in agreement to a point where as a team we don’t feel strain financially. The agreement is not only about the stadium rental. There’s a lot of issues that come with the rental of the stadium. To just give example: there’s security, there’s accommodation,” says Mbalavhali.

Meanwhile, Thulamela municipality’s manager for Sport, Arts, and Culture, Ronald Makhadi, says they have reduced rental fees for the stadium in consideration of the COVID-19 impact.

“The three teams have shown interest in making use of our facility in Thulamela, but I cannot guarantee that they will all make use of them for Thohoyandou stadium. We charge R27,795 that was after the discount of 36% considering that most of those games are being played behind closed doors. Makwarela is R24, 321 for Makonde is R10, 423.”