Sports field becomes a ghetto
2011-09-15
Lise Beyers
A GHETTO is brewing in the heart of Paarl, after a local rugby club was given the boot by the South African Police Services. The rugby field on Sanddrift Street now stands in a state of ruin and unwanted guests have made the once fine pavilion their home. These fields, which were for almost ten years home to the Young Gardens Rugby Club and long before that, the pride and joy of the now non-existent Paarl Teachers’ Training College, are a shock to visit. The grass is knee high and the pavilion is literally being torn apart bit by bit. The cloakrooms have been stripped of all piping and basins. It is evident that many people have been making it their home and that they have been living in absolute squalor and amongst human excrement. During Paarl Post’s visit to the sports field, a tattered and dirty young man emerged from within the depths of the pavilion. He could only say that he had previously been living at the Night Shelter. It was also obvious that criminals have been using the building as a hide-out. More than 30 metres of copper pipe casing was discovered in one of the cloakrooms of which the copper had been stripped. In one of the cloakrooms the number 28 is written on walls, a sign of gang activity. And strangely enough, a cross adorns another. Directly behind the night shelter is the Methodist church’s Manyano Christian Centre. In stark contrast to the dilapidated stadium, this centre and its grounds are kept in pristine condition. Manager of the Centre, Tony Litchfield, commented on the condition of the sports fields and said it was a crying shame that this sports facility had been allowed to go to rack and ruin. Mario Williams of Young Gardens said that they had used the field after having secured a contract with the Department of Public Works in 2002. “It was our responsibility to maintain the property. This was sometimes difficult due to ongoing vandalism, but we were able to keep it under control. “WP Rugby assisted us with an irrigation system for the field and we kept it in a good condition.” But, says Williams, last year the management of Young Gardens was summoned to a meeting at police headquarters in Cape Town and informed that the contract would be cancelled as the police would be “developing the fields”. “We had no choice but to leave the Sanddrift field.” This facility also lies on the doorstep of Northern Paarl High School, the Frank Petersen Music School and a brand new residential development, Vrede. Paarl Police spokesperson, Capt Louise du Plessis, said they were aware of vandalism and vagrancy at the field, but that it was a matter which law-enforcement officials of the Drakenstein Municipality must deal with. Also local property developers and businesses said that it was a disgrace that the field and pavilion, situated in the heart of Paarl, have become a rat-infested ghetto. Enquiries about the future of the sports field which were directed to the Municipality and the Department of Public Works were unanswered at the time of going to press.
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