The moratorium on sporting body lease agreements came up for discussion at an eThekwini Executive Committee meeting (Exco) on Tuesday.
The eThekwini Community Services Committee (CSC) tabled a progress report on sports bodies in a bid to address prevailing challenges facing communities in eThekwini.
Chairperson of the CSC, Zama Sokhabase, said a moratorium was placed on processing sports body leases following a council resolution of February 2024. She explained that the purpose of the moratorium was to enable sufficient time to identify problematic areas and devise mechanisms aimed at addressing issues pertaining to the granting of sports body leases.
The municipality intends to have a permanent and consistent solution on the matter. In a bid to address prevailing challenges, Sokhabase said that a Body Lease Committee has been established to facilitate the processing of sports body leases.
The Executive Committee noted the interventions being made through the establishment of the Sports Body Lease Committee, comprising representatives from the Parks, Recreation and Culture Unit, Real Estate as well as the Legal and Compliance Unit.
The matter will come up for approval at the Full council meeting on Thursday. The municipality intends to:
- review the existing list of Sports Body Facilities for the purpose of reconciling information on the facilities still in existence and those no longer in existence.
- ensure approval of l0-year lease agreements, but reviewable in 3 years.
- ensure equal accessibility to these facilities, in terms of lease agreements and club membership, accommodating the demographics of the eThekwini residents.
- monitor the Land Use aspects by ensuring that facilities are used as per the terms and conditions of the lease agreement.
- ensure legal ramifications for people using the facilities for their own benefits, in breach of the terms and conditions of the lease agreements
- ensure proper infrastructural maintenance for the facilities to remain in good condition to be used for intended purposes.
The committee must provide quarterly progress reports to the CSC for proper oversight and interventions where required.
Enzo Coppola, a former administrator at the South African Football Association (SAFA) and Durban Central Football Association, said that if the authorities do not approach the situation of granting new leases to people carefully, it may not have the desired effect.
Coppola said that historically, when it came to sport, and football in particular, taking control of council facilities was driven by the local communities who had an interest in the field in their neighbourhood.
“Therefore, all the efforts to grow the sport were driven by the fathers, mothers and relatives of the participants of the sport. It was all a non-profit situation. The patrons ran a tuckshop, had fundraisers and collected revenue from the sporting activities at that field to try to make it as self-sustainable as possible,” Coppola said.
He said that if these new leases fall into the "wrong" hands, then it is quite conceivable that these people will charge a rental to anyone who may want to use this facility.
“When the leases were taken away to begin with, that, in my opinion, has contributed enormously to our sport collapsing at development or community level in many areas. In particular this does apply to football, as the biggest sport in our country,” he said.
Coppola said that every facility has its own story and background and proper research needs to be done in each case to ensure that leases are handed out to people that have the community and sport at heart. He said every sport is different. A lease for a tennis court for example may not need as much research as a football field, he said.
“The leases in my opinion should not be given to football authorities - they must go to the locals in each community. Crucial to this entire issue of leases being given, is that the municipality must keep up their end of the bargain by maintaining the facilities to a satisfactory standard regularly,” Coppola said