EDITOR – According to a recent news article on the Kings Park soccer academy, we have Carlos Catalino, CEO of Hoy Park Management, threatening withdrawal of ‘international investors’ and others from the so-called Academy to be built on the Kings Park precinct.
Catalino, beneficiary of an as yet unexplained 30 year lease on the land gifted by the eThekwini City Council, spins quite a yarn and is now playing the role of victim.
He says the “investors are growing restless at the delays” and are “tired of all the bureaucracy.” It would be interesting to know who these investors are, if they exist at all.
Delay? Fact is, if the city council had been transparent, followed procedures and adhered to the law, there would be no delay. Instead, they have consciously subverted applicable law and the Constitution. They have misrepresented matters and deceived the citizenry. The question is, why? The parties involved have consistently refused to answer legitimate questions or provide information or documentation since the first challenge was raised in November 2014. This includes the Liverpool Football Club and the SA Football Association (SAFA). Why?
There are so many unexplained angles to this matter yet Mr Catalino is quite happy to put his foot in it, with every public statement. I think the right thing for him to do would be to put his real or imaginery ‘investors’ in the picture and inform them of the likelihood that the council’s decisions in this matter will be declared null and void.
According to the Council minutes, the decision to award a lease to Hoy Park Management to build the Liverpool Football Club Academy was based on a ‘tripartite agreement between eThekwini Municipality, the Province of KwaZulu-Natal and the Liverpool Football Club’.
A few months later, the seemingly all-powerful Catalino arbitrarily announced that Liverpool had pulled out and would relocate elsewhere in Durban, while SAFA would now build the academy at Kings Park. By what authority, one wonders?
We have subsequently witnessed the spectacle of the so-called Liverpool Academy moving around Durban like a travelling circus. This academy has now disappeared, virtually overnight.
Most intriguing is a recent business broker’s advert, published on the internet, the content of which one assumes the municipality has sanctioned.The lengthy description is headed: “49% of a five-a-side soccer stadium: Kings Park, Durban.” Among other things, it states that “The sellers (Pty) Ltd company has acquired a 30 year lease on a site near Kings Park Rugby Stadium.” A “partner” is sought who will “put up R14-million” in return for dividends of varying amounts and attractive profits. “A thousand seat elevated grand stand, substantial surrounding land” and a range of mouth-watering attractions are also offered.
The description of the site sounds like the current cycling velodrome, which is the same site where the football academy is supposed to be built, according to the plan originally published by the municipality. Perhaps Mr Catalino can shed some light on this?
There are of course no guarantees, but, given the degree to which the applicable laws and the Constitution have been subverted, and the degree of injustice visited upon the affected citizens of Durban, there is no doubt that the courts will see it to it that justice is done.
We hope that the new, incoming city council will revisit this matter and at the same time, review the current policy that threatens so many sports clubs in and around Durban. Make our fair city worthy of hosting the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
At the moment, many sportspeople fear the city council. We would much rather respect it.
JEFF VAN BELKUM
