MPHATHI NXUMALO
Durban’s municipal manager has come out guns blazing about development plans for the King’s Park precinct, vowing the city would use all the instruments at its disposal to settle the matter.
“Whoever is not on our side, we will deal with them,” Sibusiso Sithole said.
He said no amount of publicity or campaigning would stop the municipality from carrying out the development, which was under pressure to meet “performance agreements” and use money that was being granted within the financial year.
Sithole was speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday when plans were unveiled for a R300 million football training academy, on the present site of the Newmarket Stables and Berea Rovers Club.
The project, which the city is developing with the SA Football Association (Safa) and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, will include a high performance centre, recreational and accommodation facilities.
However, the Stables Lifestyle Market – which operates from the site – and the equestrian club are refusing to leave. There is also uncertainty about the future of the metro police horse unit, which also operates from the site.
Sithole said: “We have stakeholders who believe that there needs to be an opportunity to stay longer in the places that they are occupying.
“But we are saying that as a city we can’t do so, if it means allowing them to stay a bit longer is going to affect progress with regard to the building of the facility.”
The municipality was within the performance agreements and the law, “we are perfectly entitled to exercise our rights”, he said.
Sithole said the city would look into helping people who might lose jobs with the closure of the market and equestrian club. But this would be done only if those affected provided documentary evidence rather than “grandstanding” in the media.
“People have been given sufficient time to make alternative arrangements,” Sithole said.
He said the municipality would deal with the metro police horses as a separate issue, but did not elaborate.
Carlos Catalino, managing director of developer Hoy Park Management, of which 50% is owned by Safa, said: “We are going to take action against them as they (the existing tenants) caused damage to certain parties and sponsors.”
Yaser Nasef, one of the owners of Stables Lifestyle Market, which manages the flea market, said they would go to court.
“We hoped till today that the city manager would change his mind and come to the party and engage in positive negotiation,” he said. Nasef disputed Sithole’s statement that they had been given sufficient time to find alternatives.
He said the market and stables were given eviction notices by the city at the beginning of this month, stating they must vacate by month end. He said this was not enough, especially for a business that made millions of rand.
The Daily News reported on Tuesday that some market tenants wanted to negotiate directly with Hoy Park Management because they believed the market’s management was not being honest with them and had failed to update them about negotiations with Hoy Park.
The management has denied these claims.
Hoy Park’s management has said it was prepared to accommodate stallholders, but without their managing body.
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Academy ‘to grow gentlemen’
The KwaZulu-Natal International Training Centre and Provincial Football Academy will be on a site bordered by Jaco Jackson Drive, Masabalala Yengwa Avenue and Smiso Nkwanyana Road.
Carlos Catalino, managing director for the developers, Hoy Park Management, said the centre would accommodate 88 boys from the province.
The eThekwini Municipality said the centre would have a high-performance centre, medical, recreational and accommodation facilities.
Catalino described it as a long-term development project.
It was expected to be built over three years at a cost of R300 million, with eThekwini Municipality committing an estimated R22.5m, and the balance from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, and other sponsors, the municipality said.
The city said on Wednesday the site was chosen because of its proximity to King’s Park Stadium, the King’s Park Swimming Pool and Athletics Stadium, and Moses Mabhida Stadium, which are only a short walk away.
Catalino said a catering school would also be opened on site, providing internships.
“We are basically growing gentlemen and we need to give them the facilities, education being a main part of it.
“We’ll have lecture halls where they will be educated about social, financial skills, family issues and receive psychological counselling.
“Any professional institution can come in and use the facility,” he said and would like the boys to interact with different people from different sporting codes.
He also said the velodrome would not be demolished even though it was under-utilised.