Matatiele sports centre remains unfinished after six years and R37 million spent

Six years after work started on the Matatiele sports centre in the Eastern Cape, more than R37-million has been spent, but the facility remains incomplete.

Construction of the centre started in October 2018 and was to be finished in December 2021. But the contractor, Isivivana construction, hired to do the first phase of the project, left the site in 2019, leaving only a fence and some grass.

A new contractor, MVI Construction and Maintenance, was appointed on 19 May 2023, according to the municipality’s tender document. The contractor was to build change rooms with toilets, grandstands and a guard house, and lay asphalt along the running track.

According to Matatiele Local Municipality spokesman Luncedo Walaza, approximately R23-million was spent on phase one of the project. And so far, an amount of R12.2-million had been spent for phase two.

Asked about the current status of the project, Walaza said the contractors had built the guard house and change rooms and installed steel for the stands. He said the project is within its timeframes, but did not respond to questions about when the centre will be finished.

But residents who live around the site say they haven’t seen workers there since April.

Despite several calls and messages over two weeks, GroundUp has not been able to reach MVI Construction and Maintenance for comment.

The Matatiele Local Municipality has spent millions of rand on the sports centre, which has been under construction for six years.

GroundUp visited the site twice last month and saw that a new guard house had been built, and poles had been erected for the stands — which are yet to be built. We saw no construction workers at the site.

Resident Viwe Khwababa says his brother was employed in 2019 to do the fencing in the first phase of the project. “They were only paid R2,500 each. They waited thinking that the company would give them another task but that did not happen. Our municipal manager then went on national television to tell the whole country that the stadium will be finished in December 2021, but we are still waiting,” she said.

Another resident, Simthembile Nogwaza, says construction re-started late last year and workers left the site in April.

“My brother works there. Some months he would work the whole month, the next they only worked for two or three weeks, until they were told to go home in April and wait to be called. He was told that the municipality will pay in July and they will return to work in August,” he said.

DA ward councillor Wonga Potwana said he had tried to question the municipality about the budget for the sport centre but had yet to get a proper answer.

“This is an old project. It was supposed to be done in one phase, not two. The second phase came after there were questions about the funds spent and little was done after so many years.”

This article was first published by GroundUp.