“R3,3 million statue, but still no sports for stadium”

Published, Parys Gazette 14 October 2021

While residents of Parys frequently suffers with dry taps without end, the Free State MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Ms Limakatso Mahasa, unveiled a R3.3 million statue to honour the late anti-Apartheid stalwart, Fezile Dabi, at the Fezile Dabi Stadium in Tumahole, Parys.

The unveiling on Friday, 15 October, follows a memorial lecture at the Master Nakedi Indoor Sports Centre in Tumahole, on 14 October.

The 15 000 seater stadium was built at a cost of R98 million. The former Premier of the Free State, Mr Ace Magashule, officially opened the stadium on 28 November 2013, but to date no sporting event has been held at the stadium. 

In reaction to the unveiling of the statue  the DA said in a statement that the Fezile Dabi Stadium remains an expensive white elephant due to disputes over the ownership of the property on which it was built.

According to the statement, soccer clubs have requested to utilise the stadium, “which have been denied, while the state of the art facility is falling into a state of disrepair and decay.”  and has yet to host a sporting event, says the leader of the DA in the Free State, Roy Jankielsohn.

Jankielsohn, accompanied by Mariette Pittaway, a member of the Free State Legislature and DA Ngwathe councillors recently paid an oversight visit to the stadium.

• Netwerk24 reported that Sello Pietersen, spokesperson for the Free State premier, Sisi Ntombela, said that the dispute over the property on which the stadium was built, has been resolved, and that they are talking to the relevant stakeholders.