Pretoria - Communities will have the final say on the fate of the dilapidated Odi Stadium in Mabopane, which has fallen into disrepair after years of no use.
The 60 000-seater stadium, built by the erstwhile homeland government Bophuthatswana in the 1980s, was subsequently transferred to the City of Tshwane after the collapse of the former bantustan.
For more than 10 years there had not been a professional soccer match hosted at the facility.
After a recent visit to the stadium by the portfolio committee for social and community services headed by Thabisile Vilakazi, a decision to involve the community was made.
Vilakazi said the committee visited the stadium because of concerns over its historical heritage.
It hosted big teams like Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in its heyday.
Vilakazi said the committee put together findings and recommendations following its visit to the stadium.
The report would be tabled to the city council during the May sitting, she said. There were three key recommendations, she added.
These included calling for communities to decide on what should happen to the stadium.
“The buck has to stop with the community on whether it should be demolished or not,” Vilakazi said.
The communities could also decide whether they wanted it turned into a multi-purpose centre, she said.
“We also recommended that the top of the stadium be removed and to at least be left with the bottom part because it looked stable,” she said.
Vilakazi said the committee shared the view that revamping the stadium could cost a lot of money.
“But we still need people with expertise to assess the extent of the problem there,” she said.
During previous community meetings, residents bitterly complained that the nyaope drug dealers used the facility to commit crime.
Vilakazi said some of the electrical cables had been stolen.
MMC for Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Ntsiki Mokhoto said: “Our plan is to make sure that all of our facilities are working. The only thing that holds us back is that we don’t have money.
“We would like to get all our stadiums functioning.”
She said the DA-led administration would consider the proposal by the previous ANC municipality under Kgosientso Ramokgopa to demolish the facility and turn it into a multi-purpose centre.
“Some years back I went to Odi Stadium to watch a Sundowns match and I remember it was shaking on the other side as if it would fall apart,” she said. It was not safe to use the stadium, she said.
She advised communities to make use of the recently upgraded Bana sports ground in Mabopane.