‘R15 million for this nonsense?’ Eastern Cape municipality’s scant stadium baffles SA

To the untrained eye, the Lesseyton Sports Facility in the Eastern Cape’s Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality might look like just an empty field, with some patchy grass, a couple of cheap pavilions, some freestanding goal posts, toilets, a couple of Jojo tanks and a tiny guardhouse.

The stadium was opened recently, with much fanfare from the municipality.

According to the municipality, the centre is a R15 million sports facility with “state-of-the-art rugby and soccer fields with an athletics track”, “grandstands”, ablution facilities and change rooms, and a “rainwater catchment tank and high-rise water tank”.

They also had to perform blasting to clear the rocky terrain and flatten it for this technologically advanced sports facility.

After some questions from those without the insight into the technology which went into the creation of the stadium, the municipality updated their self-congratulatory Facebook post with a long explanation of exactly what went into the “construction” of the facility.

It now appears that this Facebook post has been deleted completely.

It was, however, replaced with a simple video, detailing everything the stadium offers visitors, but this video was also subsequently deleted.

One of those who couldn’t believe what he was seeing, was Economic Freedom Fighters deputy president Floyd Shivambu.

But he wasn’t alone, as more South Africans had trouble understanding what exactly cost the Enoch Mgijima municipality so much money.

In another Facebook post, the municipality also unveiled a brand-new school, which looks much nicer than even the Lesseyton Sports facility.

But even this came under the scrutiny of a social media user, who questioned why the school is only being unveiled now, after having been completed nearly two years ago.

Thembakazi Matsheke wrote: “This school was completed more than two years ago and has been standing as a white elephant because their tricks of getting the people of Gwatyu off the farms failed. Now with election time upon us, it is being used as an electioneering gimmick and touted as a symbol of developments that are taking place.

“What they do not realise is that more and more people are beginning to see through their shenanigans.”