The Mthatha Stadium, a legacy project of the 2010 Fifa World Cup hosted in SA 15 years ago, has not hosted any matches in 2025, sparking concerns that the facility is becoming a white elephant.
While the R230m stadium continues to host music festivals and government events such as the summit headed by forestry, fisheries and environment deputy minister Bernice Swarts in May, the goalposts are lying on the ground and the pitch has been cordoned off.
Attempts to get clarity from the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality on the state of the sports ground were unsuccessful.
When it was built in 2010, it was hoped the stadium would serve as a training base for some of the national soccer teams scheduled to play their matches in the Eastern Cape during the Soccer World Cup.
However, it was only officially opened for use in 2012, two years after the World Cup, with authorities attributing the delay to structural defects identified during its construction.
Former KSD councillor Pasika Nontshiza, a community activist and football enthusiast, said the stadium’s pitch was the only one with natural grass that required maintenance before and after each season.
But instead of contributing to soccer development at grassroots level in Mthatha, it had now become popular for hosting music festivals.
“A certain KSD municipal department has moved into the stadium building’s offices, which means the facility no longer serves its purpose.
“It was built in a very strategic position overlooking Ngangelizwe and other residential areas where there is an abundance of young talent,” Nontshiza said.
“If no games have been played there this year, that means it is not fulfilling the purpose for which it was built — to develop sport and nurture young people in our area.
“The SA Football Association should be concerned.”
Apart from hosting municipal and government events and music festivals, the stadium has played host to several high-profile soccer and rugby matches in the past.
Meanwhile, Ziyanda Qikani, 27, the Ngqeleni-born former soccer player-turned football academy owner who cofounded the Mercy Development Football Academy in Mthatha, spoke of her struggles to use the Mthatha Stadium to host tournaments.
In 2024, when she approached the municipality, which is responsible for the maintenance of the stadium, she was told she had to pay R2,500 to use it for her event.
She was also told the stadium would be hosting a music event.
Qikani is planning another major tournament in June but is battling to secure a venue.
Her academy caters for up-and-coming soccer players between the ages of six and 18.
“The Mthatha Stadium is more expensive than the Rotary Stadium in Ngangelizwe.
“I was shocked about the music event because it is supposed to be a soccer stadium,” she said.
“I didn’t have money, but the stadium was my first option.
“It is as though they are unaware that development structures have no money.
“It is all about developing and nurturing young people and not about making money.”
Qikani questioned whether the authorities were more concerned about swelling the municipality’s coffers by hiring the stadium out or transforming local soccer in Mthatha.
Fellow soccer academy owner and journalist Hoseya Jubase, who runs the Jubase Youth Academy and has a girls’ soccer team, agreed that grassroots soccer development was not taken seriously in Mthatha.
The Mthatha Stadium was not only important for development, it also inspired youngsters to dream big.
“Most of our players come from rural villages and are accustomed to playing on dirt and bumpy soccer fields.
“So when they get a chance to step onto that stadium’s turf, it’s a big deal for them,” Jubase said.
Safa OR Tambo district president Sandile Nowalaza said he was unaware of the condition of the pitch and that it had not been maintained.
He advised those hoping to use the stadium for soccer tournaments to approach Safa.
“Though it is under the municipality, we have not had any issues with using it.
“Whenever we have events, we approach the municipality timeously and they give it to us,” he said.
Though questions were sent to KSD municipal spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza on Thursday, he failed to respond.
But a municipal insider said a municipal tractor used to cut the grass had broken down.
And because the pitch did not have any form of sprinkler system, it had been decided to allow the grass to grow so its roots could bind together.
Daily Dispatch
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