The National Department of Sports, Arts and Culture has committed to assist the North West government with an amount of R13 million over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), towards refurbishing of the Mmabana Arts, Culture and Sport Foundation and Mmabatho Stadium.
This comes after MEC Galebekwe Tlhapi, reached out to the Ministry and requested assistance with the facilities. The funding will go towards repairing ablution facilities, VIP area, and seats, as well as the soccer and athletics fields.
Upon meeting with Minister Gayton McKenzie and his Deputy, Peace Mabe, Tlhapi assured that she will oversee the spending of the funding.
“I am going to make sure that they spend that money. There’s value for money at the end of the day. We are going to ensure that it is spent efficiently,” Tlhapi promised.
She expressed confidence in the plans that have already started to improve the state of Mmabatho Stadium, adding that it might even be ready for the Mahika Mahikeng festival by December this year.
The MEC said the request for funding was necessitated by complaints from athletes and artists, who are negatively affected by the poor state of the facilities. Meanwhile, addressing the media on the sidelines of the meeting, McKenzie described the refurbishment of the facilities as urgent.
He reiterated the significance of ensuring functioning recreational facilities in the province, making an example with the Orbit College FC team, which was forced to move its home games to Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, due to infrastructure challenges at the Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg.
Furthermore, officials from the department will return to the province in two weeks, to conduct a formal assessment with engineers at the two projects in Mahikeng.
In conclusion, McKenzie appealed to communities to avoid destroying infrastructure during service delivery protests.
