PARKWOOD – Zoo Lake Bowling Club vice-president Henry Watermeyer responded to a Johannesburg Property Company statement slamming the club and South African Municipal Workers Union for spreading ‘inaccurate information’.
The club and the union alleged the property company planned to privatise the club (No privatisation on cards for bowling club).
Property company spokesperson Brian Mahlangu said the company had no intention of privatising the club, and said the club was “famed for its menu and drinks rather than its sporting achievements”.
Watermeyer said Mahlangu’s statement was “completely wrong”.
“The bowls history is well-recorded on its honours boards, and… the croquet section has some of the strongest players in the country,” he said.
Watermeyer added that the team won the plate event at the inaugural World Team Play Croquet Championship in Johannesburg last year.
“The club was the official practice club before the event… It would have been the second site for the tournament, had there been clarity on the issue of the lease,” he said.
Watermeyer said one of the major problems faced by the club was a delayed renewal of the existing lease by the city council and uncertainty over “security of occupancy”.
“Clubs are reluctant to spend money on non-essential maintenance if the benefit is going to be short-lived. It is also difficult to encourage new members to join because of the uncertainty,” he said.
Watermeyer said the property company’s Fanis Sardianos stated on Talk Radio 702 that clubs were expected to run “pubs” to fund their activities.
“It costs approximately R20 000 per month to run the three lawns, to which the city council contributes nothing… [and] there are other costs which need to be met. This money has to be found, and it cannot be found from annual subscriptions,” said Watermeyer.
He said the club had an arrangement with a company that runs the catering facilities and paid rent which was used to fund the club so that residents could play sport at an affordable cost.
“The city council does not fund the running of the lawns, and the notion that they should be open for anyone to walk in and play in an unmanaged way doesn’t work. Clubs have to operate, lawns need to be managed and damage averted; to do this, they need to be funded,” he said.
“The lease granted by the city council to a non-sporting company is under legal process. [The successful bid] seemed to be for the creation of [a] rehab centre, with no clear plans to develop the sporting codes.”
