Centre might become white elephant soon

The dire state of the Witpoortjie Recreation Centre is in the spotlight again.

The tenants using the hall for a variety of activities, such as dances, boxing, badminton and aerobics classes called for a meeting with the authorities responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the centre.

René Benjamin, Ward 71 councillor met with these role players to discuss their concerns. “I invited the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Development to our meeting as well. Due to other pressing matters she could not attend it, but promised to reschedule. I took photos of all the areas of concern, and will compile a report to send to her in the interim,” Benjamin said.

Chris Potgieter said they host four dances at the centre annually – a Valentine’s, a Spring, a New Year’s Eve and a fundraising dance on behalf of a church. “We have been using this centre for the past 10 years and it has been deteriorating at an alarming pace. The windows are broken, all the exit signs have been taped over and the floor has a lot of water damage, making it uneven. We are embarrassed to invite people to attend one of our functions,” he said.

Neels van Aswegen echoed Potgieter’s sentiments and added, “The centre can bring in a lot of income from people renting it. But, if the issues are not addressed timeously, it will require a very large budget to fix it and then the community centre might be closed down,” he said.

Cecelia Boys who is on the Vikings Amateur Boxing Club committee, said they have been using this centre as a base for training their boxers for the past 35 years. “We have about 61 boxers currently and are still growing, but at the moment we cannot even use our own hall to host tournaments because of the state it is in. The lights in the toilets are not working, the floors are in a bad condition, the lights and ceiling where we train are broken and the grass on the training field is very long,” she said. Boys also mentioned that it saddened her to see the centre like this.

Flip Snyman who also uses the hall to host dances, said he and a friend do most of the maintenance. “Broken lights, flooring, hinges, windows – you name it, we fix it. We clean the gutters on a regular basis, as most of the water damage is caused by blocked gutters. The whole building needs a revamp – from the roof to the floor,” Snyman said.

Benjamin confirmed that the building is owned by the council and that the Department of Sport and Recreation is responsible for its maintenance. “This is the only community centre servicing about 30 000 Witpoortjie residents and it is in dire need of maintenance. The Department has it on its books for maintenance soon, but every year the building looks worse. In its current condition, it cannot be promoted and people who use it for events do not want to pay a lot if they do not get their money’s worth,” she said.

Benjamin concluded by assuring residents that these issues will be prioritised and that they will be updated on progress on a regular basis.

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