Applause for community, coaches’ effort to fix stadium

In a combined effort, soccer coaches and the Tumahole community took hands to clean the Fezile Dabi Stadium last weekend. Vandals ravaged the facility for over a decade without a single soccer game being played here in years.

According to soccer coach Mafa Dithuge, on whose initiative the project started, soccer coaches and community members met last week to discuss re-opening the stadium to end the ongoing vandalism.

Since the meeting, there has been overwhelming community support for the project, says another community member, Prince Zina.

On Saturday morning, the community and soccer coaches and players started cleaning and cutting the grass. From their pockets, they hired machines to cut the grass and bought petrol and food for the willing hands that offered to help – a community effort with no political motive at all, only the desire to ensure that facilities like the stadium and swimming pool in Tumahole are used to the benefit of the community as initially intended.

Mafa says they want to play soccer games at the stadium every weekend, including all clubs and age groups. They not only want to keep the stadium clean but also want to ensure that the facility is no longer vandalised. Since the weekend, community members patrolled the area to ensure the thieves and vandals who stole and broke the fencing, electrical cables, ablution facilities and water pipes stayed out.

Sponsors are urgently needed to fix the damage and for machinery and fuel to cut the grass regularly.

“We want to include everybody and call on business people to help us fix the toilets and connect the borehole and JoJo tanks again,” Mafa said.

Those interested in helping can contact him at 063 174 0239.

Since the cleaning, people have already donated palisades to fix the fencing.
Last weekend’s hard work paid off when several soccer teams could use the facility for the first time in years. The result was a day of soccer that brought a community together.

About the Fezile Dabi Stadium

The 15,000-seater Fezile Dabi Stadium in Tumahole initially cost R98 million to build. The former Free State Premier Ace Magashule officially opened it in his hometown on 28 November 2013. In 2021, the former 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 stadium.

Yet, no sporting event has been held at this stadium for many years, reportedly because of disputes over the ownership of the property and safety issues.

Repeated requests by soccer clubs to utilise the stadium have been denied, while the state-of-the-art facility has fallen into disrepair and decay.

On Tuesday, Netwerk 24 reported that Luthando Mbandazayo from the Auditor General’s office had disclosed that the stadium had cost the people of the Free State R261 million so far. He said this during an information session with the Free State Legislature on the audit outcome of the Free State for the current financial year till 31 March 2024, Network 24 reported.