But all that is on the verge of collapsing. The land where the facilities are located belongs to Selebi-Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) and the 25-year lease has expired. The local authority is moving to take back the land. Area One, which is a stone's throw away from the town centre, housed the volleyball and tennis courts, as well as the swimming pool. The town's mayor, Lucas Modimana told Mmegi Sport that most of the facilities are now white elephants. “When BCL was operational, there were employees who were taking care of them. They renewed the lease but since the mine closed, nobody took on that responsibility. All the sporting facilities are non-operational. You find that some might renew but there are no activities,” he said.
Modimana said the council intends to lease out Makhubu Area Two to a private investor. He said the investor will be running the area as a business entity and will be able to renovate the sporting facilities to their original standard. He explained that the plan is not to grab the land but to get businesses to manage the facilities. “Area One has been leased out to a private company to construct a shopping mall. The project is at an advanced stage and we expect construction to start soon.
I have informed the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) who are the most affected about this development,” he said. Modimana said the plan is to turn the golf club into an estate. He said they have identified a developer who is planning to set up accommodation facilities in the area and turn the browns into greens. The mayor said they remain hopeful the situation will turn around once BCL re-opens. Phikwe Golf Club captain, Shane Granger said they are trying to find the best solution to save the club but admitted it was tough.
He admitted that the long-term lease that they had, expired but they have been operating on short leases while negotiating for a longer lease. “If the council wants to hand over this land to an investor, they should consider the assets here. If they want us out of here, the council should put up security to take care of our assets. At the moment the property is being vandalised. But we learnt that the offer that the council received has expired and they are currently looking for another investor,” he said. Granger said finding an investor is not an overnight process. Meanwhile, Central Open, which was scheduled for Phikwe Golf Club, was postponed as the course was not in a good condition. BTA president, Oaitsi Thipe said the situation is unfortunate. He said there are some primary schools within the radius of Area One courts and the development means they will not have access. “That means there are no usable courts in Phikwe and our programmes will stop. Every time the club hosts a tournament, people coming from outside use lodges, restaurants and that will stop. Children will stay home and delinquency will rise with time. When school sport begins, which facilities are they going to use in Phikwe when these are destroyed?” Thipe wondered.
