Cape Town - Football club FC Kapstadt has accused the City of Cape Town of colluding with Cape Town City FC after they were awarded the lease of the Hartleyvale Stadium.
According to the soccer club, they had tried to engage with the City to obtain a long-term lease agreement but were ignored by City officials.
FC Kapstadt president Zaid Omar said: “In 2008, FC Kapstadt received a one-year lease agreement document from the City, which was not the basis of the agreement in a previous meeting.
“The one-year lease agreement first two pages described the background of the matter partially. We did not accept or sign the one year lease agreement and is still in possession of the document.
“Despite several letters to the City calling for a long-term lease agreement to be issued, the City failed to deliver accordingly and have reneged on its agreement to issue or process a long-term lease agreement for us.”
Omar said his club had a legitimate expectation for a lease agreement from the City based on the agreement made in 2009 when the club was moved from training at the Green Point Common, before the 2010 Soccer World Cup, to Hartleyvale Stadium D. He said since then, they had been making use of Hartleyvale A without a lease agreement.
Omar said they found out about Cape Town City’s lease of the property in a newspaper article. They then started lodging objections, which according to them, were ignored.
“This again demonstrates the City’s approach in not being a fair City. Yet again, the City is seen to be working with Commercial Business instead of having the interest of vibrant successful community projects or sports clubs doing valuable development work,” he said.
The current lease for the field has expired, Cape Town City Sporting Club has applied for a new lease agreement with the City.
Cape Town City FC said in a statement: “Cape Town City Football Club can confirm that it has followed all of the City’s due stringent processes in relation to the Lease Agreement.”
The City denied the allegations of collision and said FC Kapstadt also applied for a lease with the City. However, they have changed their application and the fields that they require on numerous occasions.
“FC Kapstadt initially applied to lease Hartleyvale Field, D but they have changed their application to include Field A and the Former Bowling Green.
“Both applications will be presented to the decision making authority for consideration, with the input of the user department, Recreation and Parks as well as the relevant sub-council. Therefore, these allegations are strongly denied,” said the City.
Cape Argus