More than R200-million spent on unused sports stadiums by Limpopo municipalities

Chart produced by The Outlier in partnership with GroundUp.

In the past year, GroundUp and the Limpopo Mirror have reported on a string of sports complexes and stadiums, each built for tens of millions of rands, but never completed or used. Several have been left to fall into ruin.

Together, the projects have cost municipalities more than R200-million and have not served their communities. And these are just the stadiums that have come to our attention.

Archive photos of the unfinished stadiums by Thembi Siaga and Ndivhuwo Mukwevho.

In November, we reported on the R22-million Makhuvha Sports Complex, 15km outside Thohoyandou in Vhembe District, which has soccer grounds, a stadium and two swimming pools. The facility opened in 2012, but the two swimming pools were never used, and the pitch is overgrown. Thulamela Local Municipality blames the theft of the electricity transformer two years ago, but the decay clearly started long before that.

In October, we reported on the R37-million Vhuilafuri Stadium in Madabani, west of Louis Trichardt, under the Makhado Municipality, which was incomplete and more than two years behind schedule. It has an unplayable soccer pitch because there is no water.

We also reported on the Dhavana Stadium in Vuwani, which is still unfinished more than six years after construction began. The project was designed in three phases. The Collins Chabane Municipality spokesperson declined to comment, asking our reporter, “Why are you investigating our stadium?” Municipal documents suggest more than R60-million has been allocated, and at least R40-million spent.

In September, in an article titled How not to build a stadium, we looked at the R40-million spent on the Waterval sports facility and stadium near Elim, also under the Makhado Municipality. It was incomplete and had stood unused for eight years.

In August, we reported on the R30-million Giyani Section E stadium, started ten years overdue and incomplete. Greater Giyani Municipality said its funds were exhausted, but it had now budgeted R8.7-million to revive the project. The spokesperson told us there was no need for security, as “nothing remains to be destroyed”.

In April, we reported on the R21-million Tshivhuyuni sports stadium, 35km southeast of Louis Trichardt, which the contractor abandoned in January, after over R10-million was spent on it. Another failure under the Makhado Municipality.

The Limpopo Mirror has also reported on the R43-million Madimbo Stadium, completed in 2013 by the Musina Municipality but now vandalised and unused. The publication also reported on the R16-million Mbulaheni Mulaudzi Stadium. Built by a non-profit organisation with National Lotteries Commission money, the stadium has been left vandalised and unfinished. Mbulaheni Mulaudzi, the Olympic medallist after whom the stadium is named, has said he wants his name removed from the stadium.

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