End of an era for Westridge Tennis Stadium

THE KwaZulu-Natal Tennis Association, which leases out offices at Westridge Tennis Stadium, has, at the 11th hour, come to the rescue of their district association, the eThekwini Tennis Association – with a loan to keep them open for another month – amid its signage woes which started in May last year.

The eThekwini Tennis Association was set to close its doors today (February 29) due to being unable to maintain the stadium without the income generated by the billboard signage at the corner of the stadium.

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“The association entered into a contract with a company called JCDecaux some 20 years ago. This contract was for the signage that the company put up at the premises of Westridge Tennis Stadium, and JCDecaux paid R65 000 in rent for this sign,” says Kim Hayes, the secretary for ETA.

But, as times changed and things became more and more modernised and technology-operated, the company then approached ETA with plans to change the sign from a manual billboard to a digital sign.

“Because the stadium is on municipal land, we advised the company to approach the municipality with their digital plan and apply to have the digital sign put up. JCDecaux was unable to wait for the council approval and put the sign up regardless,” added Hayes.

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That was the beginning of their woes with the municipality as the City took down the sign and said that no more signs would be put in that spot again.

“This has greatly affected us because we relied on that R65 000 a month to make ends meet as we were never funded by the government. With hopes that things would soon go back to normal, we dug into our savings account to keep things flowing, but we have exhausted that, too, as it has been close to a year since that sign was taken down,” added Hayes.

While the municipality and association try to agree on a way forward, people might lose their livelihood as the stadium closes down, which means no jobs for them.

Ntsawulana Zakhele has been an employee of Westridge Tennis Stadium for the last 37 years. He recalls his first time working at the stadium as a young man and says this is the only life he has known – waking up and coming to Westridge Tennis Stadium, and nothing gave him as much satisfaction as seeing the stadium clean and well-maintained.

Ntsawulana was followed by his son, David, who has also worked at the stadium for many years now, but sadly, the father and son duo will now say their goodbyes to the stadium.

Westridge Tennis Stadium is the heart and soul of tennis in KwaZulu-Natal, with many tournaments, such as the BRICS games and the GrowthPoint Top Gun National Tennis Tournament, having been held there as well as many school development programmes which assisted learners in tennis.

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According to the municipality, the sign was taken down because it did not comply with the signage by-laws of the City, and the eThekwini Tennis Association got into a third-party contract by leasing to a private company, which is not allowed.

“We had a meeting with the association to discuss a way forward, and the municipality still wants to see the stadium functioning after it puts efforts into refurbishing it, but we cannot force the association to continue the lease,” said the municipality.

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