The Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association is pinning its hopes on the new administration of the City of Johannesburg to repair the dilapidated Alexandra Stadium.
This was disclosed by the chairman of the association, Maisha Molepo in an interview with Alex News on their ongoing talks with City officials to revamp the stadium and possibly install artificial turf and build new seating stands for spectators.
“Our discussions are ongoing with the City, which started late last year and we are urging them to make our stadium compliant with the requirements of the Premier Soccer League, so we could be in a position to host some of their premiership matches and Diski Challenge games,” Molepo said.
Last year, Alexandra was denied the opportunity to host the MultiChoice Diski Challenge, which is a reserve of the Absa Premiership, as the stadium failed to meet the standards and requirements of premiership football.
This angered the local football fans and associations, which lashed out at the old ANC administration of the City, which closed down the stadium for over a year in 2014 under the pretext that they were going to revamp it.
A whopping R4.5 million was earmarked for the upgrade of the stadium and equipment and supplies worth several thousand rand were bought and stored at the stadium but were reportedly stolen.
The City’s plan was to demolish the current grandstand, buy out neighbouring properties to make way for the expansion of both the pitch and stadium ground, re-level the pitch and erect a high fence to contain the team balls, which continue to be lost in the community.
After the year-long closure, the City re-opened it for use and the only renewal was a splash of paint on the dilapidated ablution blocks in the players’ dressing rooms and a few administration offices. The then-ANC administration has never answered several requests from this newspaper on what happened to the R4.5 million.
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