City of Johannesburg looks at how the lockdown affected sport
JOBURG – The municipality looks back on the effect the lockdown has had on sport.
The City of Johannesburg has looked back at the effect the lockdown has had on sports since it started last year.
When lockdown Level 4 was implemented in May 2020, the many sports and recreation facilities closed their doors to the public.
“The lockdown negatively affected our maintenance plan,” said acting executive director of Community Development for the City, Moeketsi Mohlabi.
“Employees had to work from home on rotational basis. Proper safeguarding of facilities was impacted and vandalism escalated. Repairs come at a cost,” Mohlabi added.
“We plead with the community to assist in protecting government facilities.”
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa instructed the total shutdown of sport, recreation, swimming pools, galleries, museums, parks and theatres, among others.
Municipalities like the City of Joburg complied with this to protect employees and the community, and participation in many scheduled amateur and professional sport and recreational events were postponed or cancelled.
Athletes lost training hours, coaches lost income, development and mass participation programmes were halted. Physical contact sports such as rugby, wrestling and martial arts sparring were prohibited.
Most athletes attempted to keep fit while at home. Online activities such as virtual marathons and aerobics came to the fore with less sustainability, unfortunately.
Relaxation came and Level 3 allowed for 50 per cent of capacity use with strict adherence to 1.2m social distancing and health protocols. The City of Joburg had to ensure that facilities were repaired and deep cleaned before everyone could come or use them, causing a further delay.
Sanitisers, body thermometer temperature guns, and registers were distributed. Posters communicating Covid-19 protocols were placed at facilities and all participants and stakeholders were instructed to adhere.
“Participating in physical sport activities while wearing a mask was difficult,” said the City’s deputy director of Sport and Recreation, Karen du Plessis.
“Many reported drowsiness and could not adhere to the protocol of wearing of mask.”
Non-compliance led to a second wave of cases and the country moved into an adjusted lockdown Level 3; Johannesburg was declared a hotspot area, and all public recreation facilities were closed.
This pandemic brought anxiety, took lives away and derailed service delivery. The call to give health services space to manage the coronavirus did not fall on deaf ears, even though this comes with sacrifices and job losses.
City of Joburg MMC for Community Development, Margaret Arnolds concluded, “However, life is more valuable and realignment of operations is necessary to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.”
