Premier Soccer League club Maritzburg United has divided its hometown, causing an uproar with a R27m request for funding from the city that was approved by a majority vote in the Msunduzi municipality this week.
The decision by the broke KwaZulu-Natal municipality to give the club R9m a year over the next three years has provoked an outcry from ratepayers.
The Msunduzi Association of Residents, Ratepayers and Civics is gearing up for a legal battle against the deal.
The city was placed under administration two years ago; the municipality is crumbling and service-delivery protests are common.
The roads in the Lynnfield Park suburb are potholed and uncollected waste has piled up in Imbali township.
Tensions flared before the soccer vote on Wednesday. DA councillor Bongumusa Nhlabathi said the municipality could not be held to ransom by the management of Maritzburg United, which threatened to move elsewhere if it did not get the money.
“It would be an insult for us to support this,” said Nhlabathi.
ANC councillor Mahmood Omar said it was not uncommon for cities to sponsor local professional clubs. “If we look at the examples of TS Galaxy in Nelspruit [Mbombela] and Chippa United in Port Elizabeth (Gqebera) , PE sponsored Chippa R18m and Nelspruit R20m to their club.”
Nelson Mandela Bay municipal spokes-person Kupido Baron said the city was in its second year of a three-year R13m-a-year deal with Chippa United. Mbombela municipal spokesperson Joseph Ngala said TS Galaxy received R8m a year.
The chair of Maritzburg United, Farook Kadodia, said the club had asked for R15m a year but would settle for R9m. Jeanette Molefe, who lives in Greater Edendale in Pietermaritzburg, was outraged by the soccer deal.
“How is it that a football club gets first preference over the residents? Msunduzi municipality is always pleading poverty but they quickly agree to release the funds for Martizburg United,” she said.
“Just in Imbali township we are faced with major issues of a lack of housing, litter and uncollected dirt on the sidewalks and leaking water pipes which have to be repaired every two weeks. There are also no jobs for our youth, many of whom are highly educated. If the municipality truly cared they would create youth and SMME centres to assist.”
How is it that a football club gets first preference over the residents?
— Greater Edendale resident, Jeanette Molefe
Members of the residents’ association say the R27m voted for Maritzburg United would be better spent providing basic services for those living in the province’s capital.
Residents’ association chair Anthony Waldhausen said it had engaged with municipal manager Madoda Khathide and mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla about the sponsorship and was awaiting financial documents related to the sponsorship.
“The mayor and council need to ensure that the city makes prudent financial decisions, such as not to fund non-essential items such as the football club, or be held accountable for dereliction of duty,” he said.
“We are not accepting this and have engaged lawyers. Members are meeting them on Monday to obtain an interdict to reverse this decision.”
Mervyn Abrahams, programme co-ordinator for the Pietermaritzburg Economic, Justice and Dignity Group, said the municipality’s constitutional mandate required it to focus on the primary objectives of basic services before considering secondary objectives like sport and entertainment.
“Water, electricity, housing, roads and taking care of those who cannot generate sufficient income in order to pay for basic services. That is their primary objective. Sport, concerts, festivals and any kind of entertainment are all secondary objectives,” said Abrahams.
He said it was clear that the municipality had failed to deliver on basic services.
The municipality did not respond to requests for comment.
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