The long-delayed Tshivhuyuni Sports Facility, about 35km south-east of Louis Trichardt, is now 91% complete after Makhado Municipality injected an additional R12.9 million to finalise a project initially valued at R21 million.
The project began in August 2023 and was expected to be completed within six months. However, construction stalled before completion, leaving the facility unfinished for an extended period.
According to municipal spokesperson Mpho Rathando, work resumed on 13 May last year after the municipality appointed SMA Business Enterprise to complete the outstanding work. The completion phase is now valued at R12.9 million, of which R11.2 million has already been spent.
Rathando said the consulting engineer is overseeing the project to ensure compliance with specifications and quality standards. “The progress is at 91% and the anticipated completion date is 30 June 2026,” he said.
The delay has also affected a local family whose home was demolished to make way for the development. The original contract was awarded to Gombameni Risk and Event Management. However, progress stalled, resulting in disputes over payments, delays and performance concerns. The contractor was fined R250,000 for delays, which was deducted from payments due.
Managing director of Gombameni Risk and Event Management, Thomas Muluvhu, disputed the penalties, saying payment delays contributed to setbacks on site. “How do you penalise someone you were not paying,” he said.
Muluvhu said the initial budget communicated to him was R17 million, and not the R21 million stated in the Makhado Municipality’s 2024 draft annual report. He added that the municipality maintains that about R10.4 million had already been paid, and that he is still owed about R4 million, which has affected payments to subcontractors.
“I still owe subcontractors, especially the security company. I have sent a sheriff to serve summons from the attorney to the municipality to pay his remaining balance,” he said.
Despite the dispute, the municipality proceeded with additional funding to complete the project and bring it to closure. During a Limpopo Mirror visit to the site last Friday, parts of the facility appeared near completion, with workers seen planting grass.
Not all work has been completed. The scope of work includes a multi-purpose sports complex with soccer and rugby fields with grass, a four-in-one combi court for netball, tennis, basketball and volleyball, an outdoor gym, facilities for indigenous games, ablution blocks, change rooms, a guard house, electrification, irrigation infrastructure and a borehole fitted with two 10,000-litre water tanks.
It also includes a 25 kℓ septic tank, concrete palisade fencing, a gravel parking area with stormwater drainage, landscaping and retaining wall improvements, as well as the completion of a five-bedroom house for the Tshabalala family.
According to the municipality, delays were largely caused by Eskom electricity connection processes and abnormal weather conditions, which led to a disaster declaration in January 2026.
The managing director of SMA Business Enterprise, Aluwani Mulaudzi, said finishing work is currently underway. “We completed some of the remaining work, and we are planting grass now and we will be finished soon. The main cause of delay was due to Eskom and rain,” he said.