Not repurposing buildings is a waste

Compared to the wholesale destruction of huge chunks of our rail infrastructure, the fact that the once neat premises of the Brakpan Bowls Club has been reduced to not more than a mere shell of brick walls and is now a drug den will probably not raise many eyebrows.

Is that because we’ve become inured to decay and destruction? Is it because we’ve come to expect it in our lawless country? Or is that because the lucky among us can hide behind their walls and security, safe in the knowledge that “it’s not in my back yard”?

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The same is true of the once iconic PAM Brink Stadium in Springs, venue for top rugby matches, including a Springbok Test against Argentina in 2002. It’s a wreck today and anything that could have been carted away was looted long ago.

Undoubtedly, there would be those in our community who would not mourn the loss of these places, because they’re synonymous with the leisure facilities provided for whites in our former segregated society.

Others might also point out that such places quickly became more popular for their cheap booze than their sporting facilities and were the nexus of many marital and social problems.

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Yet, the real tragedy is that the rape of these facilities was entirely preventable … as our reporter discovered, there have been a number of proposals to the City of Ekurhuleni to turn them into community or welfare projects.

Some of these proposals would have been self-sustainable and would have cost the city, and its ratepayers, nothing.

By utilising existing infrastructure, whatever its nature, society can continue to reap the dividends of money already spent, no matter if it was by a past regime.

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If we do not do anything, then images like this will be emblematic of South Africa’s race to the bottom.