“Closing of the golf club came as a surprise” – Ward councillor
The doors to the Marievale Engineers Golf Club remain closed due to suspected financial pressures.
The premises belong to the South African Defence Force (SANDF).
According to ward councillor Wollaston Labuschagne, the closing of the golf club came as a surprise to many golfers.
“My attempts at getting any answers from the Office of the Secretary of Defence have been a fruitless exercise,” he says.
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Labuschagne says the rumour that the club didn’t generate an income comes as a surprise due to the fact that it was a popular club and golf course.
“Club members are busy completing a petition against the closure of the club,” he says.
Environmentalist Stan Madden says he is still trying to make some sense of the sudden closure of the club.
Madden has been a member and secretary of the golf club for many years and the closure of the club is “indeed very upsetting”.
He claims the course has been closed illegally, as no documents have been produced to support this closure.
“We can only assume that the reason is to allow the spread of the open-cast coal mining operation on the western boundary of the golf course into this well-kept and sensitive environment,” says Madden.
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He is aware that an application for prospecting rights for coal mining over this property was submitted, but there have been no applications for mining of this area.
The golf course is the only well-kept area of the original Marievale Mine Property, which was donated to the State when mining operations ceased in the early ’80s.
At the time of publishing, no comment had been received on questions sent to the SANDF.
