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The South African Football Association (SAFA) in the Buffalo City Region in the Eastern Cape has marched to the second home of PSL outfit Chippa United at Buffalo City stadium in East London.
The football federation in the region is demanding the Eastern Cape based PSL club to vacate the offices at the stadium. Chippa United recently returned to the stadium as its second home, after the stadium was approved by the PSL to be used for PSL games.
But SAFA in the region says it was unceremoniously evicted from the offices of the stadium to accommodate Chippa United’s administrative staff.
In an unprecedented move, the SAFA in East London region handed over a memorandum of demands. Amongst the demands is that Chippa Holdings a company managing Chippa United, immediately vacate the stadium’s offices.
The company has signed a 20-year lease agreement with Buffalo City Metro Municipality. The football federation in the region says the offices were allocated to it as the 2010 FIFA World Cup Legacy facility, before it was allegedly forcefully removed to make way for Chippa United last year.
SAFA in the region says it is left stranded now to perform its administrative duties.
“They must vacate this facility so that the community of Buffalo City can have access to it and we can use it to progress with our football development. If you look at all the facilities, they are all in bad shape and we can’t continue like that where all the monies available are invested in this one facility for one person in one team, that’s not even affiliated with Buffalo City. So, in short Chippa Mpengesi has got no contribution whatsoever in Buffalo City,” says SAFA Buffalo City President Mxolisi Sibam.
According to the federation before its removal from the stadium, more than 20 000 players and officials in the region accessed this stadium through SAFA.
But now local coaches say they are charged exorbitant amounts to utilise the stadium.
“Last week, a teacher who plays in my team says their school paid a huge amount of money to do athletics here, even though that is a school here in Buffalo City Metro. There is no progress in sports here because all the sports facilities are closed and then we have to rent (the stadium),” says local coach Mosuli Qoyi.
The Buffalo City Metro says while the leasing of municipal facilities is common in the municipalities, anyone interested in utilising the stadium should liase with the municipality. Spokesperson Bongani Fuzile says the correct protocol should be followed.
He has assured the public that the stadium remains open to the public besides the lease agreement with Chippa United.
In a statement, Chippa Holdings refuted claims that it has not called the association to the table about utilising the stadium. The club says the demonstrations were an act of lack of leadership and administration skills from the SAFA regional authorities.
The club has invited everyone to a general meeting to discuss the issue.
