Public gymnasium gone to waste

SASOLBURG – The top-quality indoor training facility worth more than R1m has not been accessible for years due to vandalism and theft that has taken its toll.

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Equipment worth more than R5 000 was allegedly stolen at the beginning of 2020.
Kgalalelo (KG) Lepota, who has been involved with the sport and recreation facility as a fitness trainer since 2012, is disappointed about the state of affairs.
“It’s very sad and difficult to understand why someone would steal the equipment when it’s available to benefit them,” Lepota said.

The Metsimaholo Local Talent and Development Centre (LTDC) was officially opened in June 2011 by then Minister of Sports, Arts and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula.
The launch was a progressive initiative to ensure that talented young athletes were offered an opportunity to develop their talents and therefore excel in whatever sports activities they are involved in.
The amenity, which is across the road from the Department of Correctional Services, hosts some state-of-the-art exercise equipment, including bicycles, treadmills, rowing machines, numerous weights, steps, and kettlebells to name only a few.
According to Lepota, an audit of the government facility disclosed that some of the weights were missing.
“Because the gym has two parts situated on different sides of the building – one is for group training and the other is where the exercise machines are situated – it made it easy to walk off with the weights unnoticed,” Lepota explained.

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“It’s a safe sport facility and provides various exercise equipment available for use, absolutely free of charge. It’s mainly for scholars who form part of their school’s sport programmes, although we have a few ladies who do some group training in the afternoons. Unfortunately, we had an incident where some of the equipment was stolen. The culprits, who can only be the scholars who trained at the facility, are gone, along with our equipment.
“Since the theft, learners are no longer allowed to utilise the facility,” Lepota confirmed. Besides the shoplifting incident, it was also found that the calf-raising machine was completely broken.
“I don’t know how they managed to break it the way they did, but the pipe mounting the shoulder pads that rests on your shoulders when standing on the machine to do the calf-raising exercise, was completely broken off,” Lepota described.
Despite not functioning at full capacity the facility was upgraded in 2022 at a cost of R950 000. “The building was cracking and the paint was old, renovations had to be done,” Lepota said. Although no time could be given of when the facility will be open again for local learners to train and exercise, Lepota is hopeful it will operate again. The only activities currently taking place around LTDC are on weekends when local football clubs use the open field, next to the facility, for their matches.