Lwandle Sports Ground is expected to be open soon after all the refurbishment has been completed. The contractor is currently revamping the boys and girls change rooms at the stadium. The project started early last year and is in phases (“City of Cape Town boots Lwandle sports with massive upgrade to local sports ground”, City Vision, 20 February 2024).
The site community liaison officer (CLO) Khunjulwa Mvukelwa said the upgrades started in the middle of August and are expected to be completed later this month.
“We started working here on Tuesday 19 August by removing the rubbish inside the dressing rooms before we started working. Currently we are installing pipes for both change rooms. In the boys changing rooms, we have already started putting tiles on the floor and on the wall,” she said.
Mvukelwa said a lot needs to be done, with new doors, windows, ceiling and burglar bars all on the list. They will also paint the walls.
“If everything goes according to plan, we are hoping to finish everything this month end. Since we started, we have not had any challenges and the workers are pushing to finish on time,” said Mvukelwa.
Ward 86 councillor Xolani Diniso stressed that the stadium will be officially opened as soon as the upgrades are completed. He said they had to replace all the underground pipes.
“The stadium was in a bad state. The criminals vandalised it to the state that there was no fence and people were crossing here. We started by fencing it with vibracrete walls last year. Then we re-grassed the rugby field and now we are revamping the changing rooms,” said Diniso.
He said they could not open the stadium without the players’ dressing rooms, adding that the aim is to provide a safe playing environment for the players. “Some of the players are females. They can’t change outside. For the sake of preserving their dignity we decided to renovate the changing rooms. As soon as the changing rooms are completed, we will open the stadium,” said Diniso, adding that the total cost was about R700 000.
