All the colour, action of the rugby

WEEKEND Post chief photographer Mike Holmes took these pics at Saturday’s third test between the Springboks and England at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Billion rand hangover for Mandela Bay Stadium

By Patrick Cull

NELSON Mandela Bay has ended up shelling out close to R1-billion for the privilege of being a host city for the 2010 Fifa World Cup as both national and provincial government have defaulted on funding commitments.
This after the city should only have had to pay R340-million.
Local politicians and ratepayers have slammed the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) for allowing the staggering costs – R878-million –  to get so out of hand, saying it is yet another example of the metro making “impulsive” decisions that could end up crippling the city financially.
They also fear the forthcoming Afcon 2013 tournament – of which Port Elizabeth is a  host city – could see the municipality follow the same devastating path.
Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Bay Ratepayers’ Association, Kobus Gerber, said it showed the municipality was “making impulsive decisions and putting ratepayers at risk”.
Gerber added the municipality had “yet again got itself in a financial mess” with ratepayers having to pay to “get them out of it”.
“With Afcon 2013 we are bound to walk the same path again. Who gives the municipality the right to take our money and push it into events like this?
“They sould ask us before they just spend money like this, because we are the ones who have to help them out of trouble when everything flops.”
The current cash crisis, DA caucus leader Leon de Villiers said, was “largely due to the cost of hosting the World Cup” and the reason why the metro’s Capital Replacement Reserve was now  depleted.
De Villiers said Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and the ANC “have made the same mistake by committing this metro to host Afcon 2013 without first obtaining a firm funding commitment from national and provincial governments”.
“No details have as yet been released on the extent to which national and provincial government will assist in terms of the R30-million required to stage the tournament,” De Villiers said.
“The mayor and ANC have their priorities wrong as they are unable to provide basic services to a vast number of residents who are still using the bucket system, without proper housing, water and electricity.”
De Villiers said the failure to appoint a permanent municipal manager and spending R11.8-million to sponsor nine PSL soccer matches at the stadium earlier this year indicated the mayor and the ANC were “failing the residents of this metro”.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday June 16 2012. 

Slap in the face for local soccer talent

By Shaun Gillham

BAY Stars managing director and businessman Tony Lovegrove has slammed a move by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality – in particular Mayor Zonoxolo Wayile – to buy Premier Soccer League (PSL) team Maritzburg United as a slap in the face for local football development.
An angry Lovegrove said on Friday that politicians and officials “did not care about the great talent in their own back yard” and were demonstrating that they did not think locals were “good enough”.
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron confirmed the initiative, which insiders told Weekend Post will cost the metro R30-million in relocation costs alone.
“I can confirm that the municipality is in the advanced stages of negotiations with Maritzburg United Football Club. This is towards maintaining the sustainability of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,” Baron said.
According to a source close to the deal, Wayile instructed Nelson Mandela Bay Development Agency Pierre Voges to negotiate with Maritzburg United and that the deal had to be closed before May 18 or 19 due to a Safa deadline dictating the cut-off date by which clubs have to declare their home stadiums.
According to another source, the team might not even be permanently based in the region, but would simply be “rented for some PSL games”.
The new development comes as a massive blow to Bay Stars, which was created out of the former Bay Academy Football Club with extensive financial backing from local business and with the aim of representing the metro in the PSL within three years.
 Lovegrove believed a contract signing with Maritzburg was imminent.
He said Bay Stars was formed after Safa contacted local businessmen to assist in the former Bay Academy team. “We looked at the PSL model and we formed a team, which has full technical support, with the aim of getting it into the PSL in three years. We’ve done all the right things; put all the correct structures and support systems in place. We had an MOA [memorandum of agreement] with the mayor, who publicly supported the team and its aims, and we are on track to develop this team, which has great talent,” Lovegrove said.
Lovegrove questioned why tens of millions would potentially be spent on importing a franchise when they had battled to get R4-million worth of repairs done to the team’s home ground, the Wolfson Stadium.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday May 12, 2012.

Artists up in arms over music fest

By William Alexander

A SHADOW of controversy has been cast over the upcoming Nelson Mandela Bay Megafest music extravaganza with local artists claiming they have been overlooked by organisers.
The event, which is being organised by private company Zeranza, and will be headlined by international stars Ludacris, Ne-Yo, Shaggy and Protoje, has been set for June 2 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
But according to Nelson Mandela Metro Music Association chairman Dumile Manxoyi the number of Eastern Cape artists performing at the festival is well below what it should be.
“It’s disrespectful and it undermines their [local artists’] efforts,” Manxoyi said. “There’s no significant music industry in the Eastern Cape and because of this artists are encouraged to go to Johannesburg.”
He also questioned Zeranza’s lack of experience in organising large festivals, saying the company was “not familiar with the landscape and local artists”.
At the Megafest launch on Tuesday April 17 organisers came under fire from a host of local artists who said they were “sick and tired” of being undervalued.
One member of the audience voiced concern that Megafest would be unable to meet its anticipated target of a 50 000-strong audience as the concert was aimed at a younger audience who could not afford the R150 ticket price.
He also expressed anger that the organisers had secured the services of Lloyd Stanbury, a production manager from Jamaica, rather than someone from the Eastern Cape.
“I want people from the Eastern Cape to make an Eastern Cape festival,” he said.
However, festival head of talent Roysten Cloete said Megafest would have a mini-stage on which the talents of local artists would be showcased.
“We have a list of potential artists from the department of arts and culture because we really wanted to avoid this [reprimands from local artists],” Cloete said.
In the past few years the city has not enjoyed a good track record when it comes to international music concerts and festivals. In 2009 livid fans streamed out of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as the main act of the Bay Summer Concert, rapper Busta Rhymes, arrived late and did not even perform.
Later that year the Nelson Mandela Bay International Music Festival which was to showcase artists such as Keri Hilson was cancelled due to lack of funds.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 21, 2012.

Nelson Mandela Bay set for historic match

NATIONAL soccer team Bafana Bafana have been in Port Elizabeth since  Monday and are ready to take on top-ranked Ivory Coast at the iconic Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in a Mandela Challenge clash tomorrow (Saturday, November 12).

Fans are looking forward to watching the Mandela Challenge match being hosted in Nelson Mandela Bay. Hundreds have been securing autographs from both the national team and the visiting “Elephants”, who arrived in the city yesterday (Thursday). Disappointingly, Ivory Coast arrived without their goal-scoring machine and skipper, Didier Drogba, as he is injured.

Stadium marketing manager Buli Ngomane said the venue was ready to host the star-studded match, which starts at 3.15pm tomorrow.

The national squad are training at the stadium until about 11.30am today while Ivory Coast are expected to train there from 3pm.

Urgent bid to return ‘big-time’ soccer to Bay

By George Byron 

MAJOR new plans have been announced in an urgent bid to bring “big-time” soccer back to Nelson Mandela Bay following the decision last week by Bay United’s owners to relocate their club.

An innovative strategy was announced on Friday by Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium managing director Stefan Pretorius.

“Our long-term aim is to get a top team to relocate to the city and play at the stadium and build up support.”

Although he would not divulge teams that had been approached, it is believed they rank among the bestknown names in the South African game.

“In the short term we will do everything possible to get as many big matches as possible to be played at the stadium,” Pretorius said. “It is very sad Bay United have decided to relocate and the first prize for soccer lovers would have been if they had stayed in the city.”

Pretorius said the stadium wanted two major anchor tenants and that rugby was one of them. “We want soccer to be the other and we are doing everything possible to make that happen.”

Soccer administrator Boya Chetty said he would back any moves to get big-time soccer back. “It is in the interests of the stadium to have major soccer played at their venue and I hope they have success in attracting a top team.

“Because of the way soccer is structured it will be very difficult to get back to the top flight via the route of promotion. We are right at the bottom of the ladder.

“There is tremendous potential for soccer to become a big drawcard in Port Elizabeth. I will back the management at the stadium to the hilt,” Chetty said.

Bay United general manager Lungsi Mooi said the reasons stated by the club’s Limpopo-based owners for relocating were based mainly on the “lack of support received from the metro”.

The location of the city in terms of travel from regions where “quality teams” were based was another factor.

No major soccer has been played at the stadium since last year’s Fifa World Cup and the stadium is now the home of the EP Kings rugby team who are bidding for promotion to the Currie Cup Premier Division this season.

But while soccer fans are still reeling from the news that Umlilo are relocating, they can at least look forward to a clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates at the stadium in July.

The “Soweto derby by the sea” forms part of the Vodacom Challenge and more than 30000 fans are expected. Stadium management will be keen to see whether soccer still enjoys the tremendous pulling power of previous years when Chiefs play Pirates.

Three-day wine show kicks off at Stadium today

By Louise Liebenberg

ONE of the country’s biggest wine shows is heading south today (Friday) in the form of an interactive road show at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. According to show director John Woodward, the three-day wine extravaganza is returning to Port Elizabeth thanks to the “overwhelmingly positive” response from both visitors and exhibitors when it was held here for the first time last year.

The Wine Show has become a highly successful event in Johannesburg, where it has been staged for the past six years. But the smaller Port Elizabeth version – known as the Wine Show Road Show Nelson Mandela Bay – surprised organisers and exhibitors alike with sales significantly outstripping that of the largest wine show in Cape Town in December last year.

“We had more than 2000 Eastern Cape visitors and the exhibitors achieved sales of more than R300000 – nearly 70% higher than sales reported by WineX in Cape Town last year,” said Woodward. “These are really impressive figures for a new show and proved to us the Eastern Cape was starved for attention from wine marketers.

“The show statistics also revealed Eastern Cape audiences were also eager to experiment with and taste new wines.”

This year’s show takes place from today (Friday) to Sunday, June 10 to 12, and will see nearly 50 of South Africa’s leading estates – representing every major wine-producing region in the country – showing off their vintages.

Winemakers and representatives from the various estates will also present free tutored tasting sessions throughout the weekend. Visitors may also buy wines at the venue. The show will feature wine producers ranging from boutique wineries to some of South Africa’s biggest estates and co-operatives.

Exhibitors will be located on both levels of the stadium’s World of Windows. Access Management, which operates the stadium, will provide catering, including sushi, on the top level and at the inner-bowl food court. Simonsberg will also have cheeses to taste and buy.

The show is backed by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and is open from 5-9pm today (Friday), noon to 9pm on Saturday and noon to 4pm on Sunday. Tickets are available from Computicket at R90 per person or at the door. Weekend passes cost R150 per person and special group rates of R80 per person apply for bookings of 10 or more people. All minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Access’s  marketing head  Buli Ngomane said secure parking next to the North End Lake could be accessed from the entrance at the corner of Fettes Road and the lake, next to the Boat Club. The cost is R15 per day.

Bay set for International Music Fest

By Yolandé Stander

THE curse of Nelson Mandela Bay’s failed music concerts of recent years finally seems to have lifted as tickets for today’s International Music Festival were nearly sold out at the time of going to press yesterday.
About 27000 of the 30000 available tickets were sold and today’s programme, which kicks off at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in North End from 2pm (with performances starting from 2.30pm), looks set for success.
A major draw card for the event, which started yesterday (Friday), has seen world-class performers – among them US guitarist and singer George Benson and South African jazz icon Hugh Masekela – lined up by Organisers espAfrika.
For details of today’s programme, including Masekela and Benson’s performance and appearances by the likes of Prime Circle, Goldfish, Freshlyground and Jamali, get your copy of Weekend Post today. Tickets are at Computicket.

Once proud home of PE rugby being stripped by looters

OVERGROWN: Bay United general manager Lungsi Mooi sits among the weeds at the EPRU Stadium. Picture: Mike Holmes

By George Byron

THE Eastern Province Rugby Union Stadium, once the proud home of top class rugby in Port Elizabeth, is being systematically stripped by looters while historic memorabilia in the stadium’s offices and once plush hospitality suites have been vandalised and trampled on.

Now staff still left working in the stadium say they fear for their safety.

When Weekend Post visited the dilapidated stadium, efforts to enter the once grand Lawton Fourie Room proved difficult because of a cascade of water falling from the ceiling.

The guardhouse building at the main gate was unmanned and access to the stadium and the lifts in the main pavilion was unrestricted.

 Many of the abandoned suites were littered with broken glass, smashed windows and hanging electrical fittings which had been ripped out of the wall.

One room, which appeared once to have been used by the EPRU, had been ransacked and the drawers of a filing cabinet containing disciplinary case hearings rifled through and files strewn on the floor. The sliding door leading out from the suite had also been shattered.

 Photographs of proud moments in the history of EP Rugby lie discarded on the floor amid shattered glass panes. One suite, with a nameplate on the door: “Alan Solomons EP head coach”, has been abandoned and ransacked.

Though rugby is no longer played at the stadium, the run-down venue is now the logistical and training headquarters of Bay United which has administrative offices in the main grandstand. This week United general manager Lungsi Mooi spoke of her fear of going to work because of brazen looters entering the premises and stripping anything valuable out of the once luxurious wood-panelled suites.

Mooi, who has her office on the third floor of the main pavilion, is concerned for her safety because of the aggressive looting and lack of security at the stadium, which is municipal property. “I do not like spending time here any more. I have phoned the municipality to tell them about the looting on numerous occasions, but nothing is done.”

Sitting among the towering weeds on one of the stadium’s stands, Mooi appealed to the municipality to step up security and stop the looters from stripping the stadium’s remaining assets. “This place has become dilapidated and it is sad to see. Something drastic needs to be done.

 “There is talk that the stadium will eventually be demolished and new buildings erected. But I have heard nothing officially,” Mooi said.

Though Bay United play their matches at Gelvandale, the stadium once known as the Boet Erasmus is their logistical headquarters and they train on the main field.

The United players do not use the changerooms as they are in a poor state of repair.

 “We were just put here temporarily, so we cannot take charge of things like security and looting. Someone at local government or the municipality needs to take charge,” Mooi said.

 She said she would not like the stadium to be demolished as it could still serve a purpose as a sporting facility.

 “There is a need for facilities like this and I still see a future for the stadium. We could play our lesser games here while the big matches could be played at the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,” Mooi said.

 Municipal spokesperson Kupido Baron said the looting was not acceptable and that the situation would be examined.

 “Even though there are plans to demolish the stadium we will have to look at an interim measure to stop the looting. Bay United have been placed at the stadium on a temporary basis. More permanent arrangements will have to be made for them,” Baron said.

In its heyday the Boet Erasmus was one of South Africa’s top four rugby stadiums and regularly attracted crowds of more than 50000 for tests against the All Blacks and British Lions.

 One of the most famous games at the stadium was in 1974 when the Boks lost to the Lions in what became known as the “Battle of the Boet”.

(This is a condensed version of an article originally published in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday, May 11, 2011.)