Chippa United take on East London Bowling Club in legal showdown over ‘historically criminal lease’

1 Jul 2024

Confirming that he wants to turn their greens into a parking lot, Chippa football team boss Siviwe Mpengesi is heading for a showdown in the Bhisho High Court with members of the East London Bowling Club. In a statement on Monday, Mpengesi said he would not tolerate the ‘illegal occupation’ of sports facilities that were a legacy of apartheid.

Arguing that a lease of R46 per year is a “historic crime”, the chairman of Chippa United, Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi, has started demolishing the East London Bowling Club’s boundary wall and cutting down its trees, with security guards employed by his company barring them from entering the premises on Monday.

On Tuesday, 2 July, the club will approach the Bhisho High Court to stop the destruction of their bowling clubhouse, the cutting down of the trees and Chippa’s plans to turn their bowling green into a parking lot.

The bowling club is next to the Buffalo City Stadium, a property that has been renovated by Chippa’s stadium management company. In a statement, Mpengesi said they are expanding and need a parking lot. He added that he had no intention of restoring the bowling club’s access to the property.

The club, represented by advocate Brendon Tarr instructed by Niehaus McMahon Attorneys, will ask the Bhisho High Court to order an interdict stopping further demolition. The application includes an order to repair the boundary wall that was demolished last week.

The bowling club’s treasurer, Willie du Toit, said in papers that they have a valid lease agreement that will end on 30 June 2025. According to the lease agreement, they rent the 1.3ha property for R46 a year.

Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said the lease was valid.

“Should there be a need to clarify any miscommunications or misunderstanding, we will definitely guide that process,” he said, adding that the original lease agreement was concluded in June 1955 and had been renewed since then.

‘Illegally occupied’

Mpengesi said he has heard the “negative statements” by the Buffalo City Bowling Club against the Stadium Management Company and the long-term lessees of Buffalo City Stadium.

“Buffalo City Stadium precinct was dilapidated and badly vandalised to the point where it had become a refuge for criminals and squatters. Chippa Training Academy then started a process of engaging the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality with the aim of saving the situation to fix those facilities and make them accessible to all people of Buffalo City.

“A thorough consultative process started, including meeting with all sport fraternities for comments on how to make the venue viable. Several meetings have been held since 2021 with the relevant bodies and officials. After a robust and lengthy consultative process involving Treasury, the Buffalo City Metro Council awarded the stadium to Chippa Training Academy.

“Chippa Training Academy then immediately ensued with renovations which to date have cost no less than 10 million rands. The result of this work is that we have seen the stadium going back to its glory days, hosting the president of the country, the premier of our province and the mighty Kaizer Chiefs recently, along with four other PSL games.

“Not only has top-flight football been enabled, but also some musical acts, political gatherings and church festivals have been facilitated and it is clear that there is order now to this valuable asset of the municipality,” Mpengesi said in a statement.

He said the Stadium Management Company has been appointed to run the precincts and “part of the process has been to evict all people who illegally occupied the area”.

“During the course of 2023, it came to our attention that a bowling club that is also running a tavern has illegally occupied the premises that were leased to us by the municipality. It is further confounding that the erf where the bowling club is situated is the same erf we are leasing to the municipality.

“We have on several occasions tried to reach out to the bowling club to persuade them to engage with us as our intention was not to evict them, even though they invaded the property. After several futile attempts we then gave them formal written notice as we are renovating the stadium and want to also use the facility for parking and access,” he said.

“Our intention has never been to abolish the sport (bowling) with a rich history but to enforce law and order as we did with the Rugby Union and Safa,” he said.

He said they had a valid lease for the same property.

“Our legal team has been instructed to open a case on our behalf with the Hawks to investigate and arrest the perpetrators and should it be found that there are any municipal workers who are involved, they in addition should be disciplined by BCMM and arrested should any criminality be found,” he said.

“We condemn persons who occupy BCMM sports facilities and limit their use to certain communities, especially in the suburbs where they run pubs and entertainment and treat public venues as their private properties. We are well aware that we have limited access to sports facilities as the Buffalo City community, and as a result, our children are involved in drugs and criminality,” he added.

“We call on the municipality to investigate and audit all their properties, including these ones where people are paying R4 a month, which amounts to a historic crime. The illegal occupation of these properties is a legacy of apartheid which it appears some are bent on continuing should the matter not be dealt with,” he said.

Club under threat

An irate Du Toit, however, said in papers before court that the property of the bowling club had been “invaded” by teams of people who started cutting down trees and demolishing a boundary wall. He said officials from the Buffalo City Metro managed to put a stop to the demolition on Thursday, but it continued on Friday.

Du Toit said that even after he showed his lease to officials from the Chippa Training Academy, the demolition continued.

“They have indicated that by 1 July there will be no property left,” he said.

Du Toit said that the demolishing of the boundary wall had left the property exposed to vagrants and he feared that the bowling greens would be damaged. There were several tournaments scheduled at the club for this year and Du Toit said these were now under threat.

On Monday morning, a skip was delivered to the premises and security guards were posted at the gates by Chippa.

Du Toit said when he wanted to enter the premises on Monday morning, his entrance was barred by security guards, and even the alarm company was stopped from gaining access.

The case will be heard on Tuesday. DM

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‘Illegally occupied’

Club under threat