Pretoria - The City of Tshwane’s multimillion rand project to refurbish the Caledonian Stadium in Arcadia is in limbo after almost five years since it was allocated a budget of R67 million by former mayor Solly Msimanga.
The project was envisaged to have been completed in three years, but this deadline has been missed.
The problems at the project were highlighted during last week’s oversight visit by the EFF councillors in Tshwane who said R40m was used on the project during Msimanga’s tenure.
They were disappointed that the construction had seemingly been abandoned as there were no activities on site.
Instead, the site was littered with heaps of sand with weeds and debris. There was long grass, trenches and a stationary construction truck.
Lack of progress has fuelled suspicions that the City was struggling to complete the construction owing to possible corruption.
Regional EFF chairperson Obakeng Ramabodu, who led his party caucus’s oversight inspection, said the stadium was one of the DA-led administration’s failed projects.
It left the stadium dilapidated while the project was intended to take no more than 36 months, Ramabodu added.
In 2021, he said, the DA announced that it would cost the City R120m to refurbish the facility, which was falling apart.
Ramabodu said there was nothing to show that the City used millions of rand to revamp the stadium.
This was despite an assurance by the City’s Social Development and Community Services MMC, Peggy de Bruin, who last year said the project was on track,
She expressed satisfaction with the construction work under way to revamp the stadium, which was built in 1903.
Construction work at the Caledonian Stadium was revived in 2021 after a sod-turning ceremony attended by Williams and former MMC Thabisile Vilakazi. Vilakazi said at the time: “We made a promise to ensure that we refurbish the stadium.”
In 2017, Msimanga announced that the City had set aside R67m to refurbish the stadium, promising that the project would be completed in three years.
At the time, he said the municipality and SuperSport United had entered into a deal stipulating that the facility would be the club’s home for its league matches on completion of the refurbishment.
This was despite the fact that the facility had been used by Arcadia Shepherd since 1903.
Before the 2016 municipal elections, the then ANC-led administration had plans to demolish the stadium and turn it into a multi-purpose park.
De Bruin, who is an ActionSA member, promised to respond to media questions today, saying she “asked the director to get us a breakdown of all the expenses since it’s an old project”.
Pretoria News