Well-known artist Khakhathi "Muthuwanthu" Tshisikule, who is also a councillor at the Thulamela Municipality, has criticised the municipality for scaring away the province's top soccer teams with the excessive rent charged for using the Thohoyandou Stadium.
In the latest development, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM), a team playing in the Motsepe Championship Foundation league, announced that they would be moving to the Dr Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein. The high rent charged for using the local stadium was stated as one of the main reasons for their leaving Thohoyandou.
Thulamela Municipality's practice of charging excessive rent for whoever wants to use the Thohoyandou Stadium has been severely criticised over the past years. In 2021, Black Leopards announced that they would relocate because they could not afford to rent the stadium. At the time, the rent was R27 795 per match, after the 36% discount.
Black Leopards subsequently moved their home venue to the Old Peter Mokaba stadium, where they only paid R5 000 per match. Last year, Leopards moved their matches to the Malamulele Stadium after signing an agreement with the Collins Chabane Municipality. This municipality made the stadium available free of charge to Leopards.
Cllr Tshisikule was very outspoken about Thulamela Municipality's attitude towards sports clubs, especially the top teams. He said that the clubs were expected to pay around R57 000 to play a home game at the Thohoyandou Stadium.
Tshisikule, who represents the International Revelation Congress (IRC) in the council, said that he had written many letters to the municipality in trying to establish why such high rent was being charged, but he had received no response.
"I am sick and tired of this municipality, to a point that I started realising that the owner of Black Leopards, David Thidiela, was not just crying foul. He had a point." He added that the situation affects more than just the soccer teams and the supporters. Even the hawkers who sell their goods during the big matches are now left stranded, because of what he describes a "selfish municipality". Tshisikule said that he was going to mobilise the community to march to the municipality and hand over a memorandum to demanded that the tariffs be reduced.
One of the hawkers who sells at the stadium, Ms Maria Mudau, said that she had been trading at the stadium for as long as she could remember. "I have not known any other job, and they now want to put me out of business," she said. "They are working and have a steady income, while we depend on selling for a living. We voted for them, and this is how they repay us," she said.
The Thulamela Municipality's sports manager, Mr Ronald Makhadi, said that the stadium tariffs were fixed. He said that representatives of the three local teams had met with the mayor to discuss the issue, but he did not know what the outcome of the meeting had been. Makhadi said that the council would revisit the issue of tariffs in the middle of the year.