SWIMMING POOL IN KAALFONTEIN

If everything goes according to plan. KAE residents will soon have a swimming pool and a multi purpose centre which will have a community hall, library and other recreational amenities.

This was confirmed by the recently appointed Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Development, Margaret Arnolds. In 2016, Cllr Arnolds was elected as a Proportional Representative (PR) councillor representing the African Independent Congress (AIC). When the City of Johannesburg former Mayor Herman Mashaba resigned late last year, the African National Congress (ANC) made a deal with the smaller parties like AIC to elect its Mayoral Candidate, Geoff Makhubo. One of the conditions for Makhubo’s election was MMC posts for smaller parties.

As an MMC of Community Development, Cllr Arnolds is tasked with building communities within Joburg that are socially empowered through access to libraries, swimming pools, stadiums, parks and public spaces. Cllr Arnolds emphasises that she wants to see young people from marginalised communities given opportunities to participate in international sports competitions with the aim to create decent jobs within sports and recreations.

“I would like to see our youth participate in sports; from soccer to indigenous games, use the libraries to assist them with reading, use our available theatres to assist them and keep them away from drugs and criminal activities,” she explained.

She recently posted on Twitter a picture of her at the site with the caption “Ward 92 site of MPC at Kaalfontein “. The MPC will be opposite Yarona Shopping Centre in Kaalfontein. The Multi Purpose Centre was initially presented by the former Democratic Alliance (DA) Finance MMC, Funzela Ngobeni, in the 2019/20 budget.

The construction site has been cordoned off since early last year. The delay was evicting small businesses from occupying the land. The project is currently in Phase 1 which includes earthworks. KAE News understands that the soil on the site has been taken to a laboratory to determine if it is safe to build on. The results will be available within the next few weeks. If the soil is found to be safe to build on, Phase 2 will commence. If not, another venue for the MPC will have to be identified.

KAE News visited the site and we hope the soil testing will be successful. The community of KAE deserves a community hall and a library. Other recreational facilities will also help keep youth off the streets and away from drugs.

We spoke to the Councilor of Ward 92, Violet Chauke. The councilor was excited about the project and confirmed that we are awaiting soil results.”This will greatly benefit our children. At least something that belongs to us. We are tired of seeing shopping centres being built in our community land but nothing is built for the benefit of the community.”

Chauke’s comments come after a total of 3 shopping centres have been built in KAE in less than 5 years. The shopping centres are Kaalfonten Corner, Archer Crossing and Busy Corner Mall.