Damning report on R57-million Buffalo City swimming pool
Years later the pool remains incomplete and a symbol of municipal failure
The Buffalo City Metro Municipality has spent R57-million on the Mdantsane NU2 Olympic-size swimming pool construction project, yet it remains unusable due to neglect, vandalism and non-existent maintenance. Photos: Johnnie Isaac
- The Buffalo City Metro Municipality has been criticised following the release of a report by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) which found serious failures in its planning, execution, and oversight of the Mdantsane NU2 Olympic-size swimming pool construction project.
- The report was released during a special council sitting last week,
- It follows harsh criticism from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), led by chairperson Songezo Zibi, after their recent oversight visit.
- Construction on the pool started in 2017, with an initial budget of R22-million for Phase 1. But the project quickly ran into delays and costs ballooned to R57-million.
- Yet the pool remains incomplete. It is a symbol of municipal failure.
A report by the Buffalo City Metro Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) has revealed serious failures in its planning, execution, and oversight of the Mdantsane NU2 Olympic-size swimming pool construction project.
The report was released during a special council sitting last week, following harsh criticism from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), led by chairperson Songezo Zibi, after a recent oversight visit.
The committee sounded the alarm during the visit, describing the metro’s backlog of incomplete projects, particularly the incomplete Mdantsane swimming pool as “the most egregious examples of years of mismanagement, malfeasance, and possible fraud and corruption”.
The committee stated that while R57-million had been spent at the Mdantsane project, it remains unusable due to neglect, vandalism and non-existent maintenance.
“The committee was further alarmed to learn that the Speaker of Council, Humprey Maxegwana, Chief Whip Mike Basopu and Mayor Princess Faku had on more than one occasion quashed damning reports pertaining to the projects. They were unable to provide convincing reasons why this was the case, leading to what appears to be a culture of impunity and procurement malfeasance,” the committee said.
The committee said it would be referring some of its findings to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to recover money from service providers and staff.
Incomplete Mdantsane pool
In June 2017 GroundUp reported the municipality’s failed attempt to refurbish the pool which had been left to ruin since the 1980s.
The NU2 pool has existed for decades but was shut down in the 1980s due to disrepair. From 2009, the municipality started talks to restore the Olympic-size pool to be used for swimming lessons and diving facilities. These plans gained momentum in 2010 with the launch of the Mdantsane Urban Renewal Programme, which allocated millions of rands for the redevelopment.
Construction on the pool started in 2017 with an initial budget of R22-million for Phase 1. But the project quickly ran into delays and costs started ballooning. The plan was to complete the main pool and then build a diving pool in Phase 2. Due to poor planning, blasting to create the diving pool was only done after the main pool had already been built, causing irreparable structural damage to the main pool.
Community members and civic organisations have been vocal about their outrage over the rising costs and visible structural defects for years now.
However, the pool remains cracked, dried-up, and a symbol of municipal failure.
In August 2024 the members of the municipality’s MPAC visited the pool. They found that the project was mired with structural defects, poor planning, and severe financial irregularities. “Blasting activities had compromised the integrity of the main pool, which now had major cracks and was deemed unusable. These blasts intended for the second phase should have preceded the pool’s construction, not followed it.”
Despite the glaring issues, the Directorate of Sports, Recreation, and Community Development continued reporting the project to council as being “near completion”.
MPAC noted that the “reality on the ground starkly contrasted” the aspirations for the pool which was to boost water sports in the country’s second largest township. The committee also criticised the project as an example of wasteful and fruitless expenditure, “with funds disbursed for work that failed to deliver any tangible value”.
MPAC noted that the “reality on the ground starkly contrasted” the aspirations for the pool which was to boost water sports in the country’s second largest township.
Damning report
In a special council sitting on 10 April, officials released a report by the MPAC into some of its incomplete infrastructure projects. First item on the report was the Mdantsane NU2 swimming pool. The report, by auditing firm Ernst & Young, was commissioned following a slew of negative publicity over the project’s cost escalation, despite little work being done.
According to the report there were many issues such as “the absence of feasibility studies, improper sequencing of project phases, a lack of detailed cost breakdowns, and no risk mitigation strategies”.
These failures, the report stated, led to a flawed execution that wasted public funds and betrayed community’s expectations.
Responding to the report, DA Chief Whip in BCM, Anathi Majeke, welcomed it and called it a “step toward accountability and transparency”.
“It is deeply concerning that it took a recent oversight visit by SCOPA to prompt this action. Without SCOPA’s intervention, the reports — previously withdrawn under questionable circumstances in December 2024 — would likely have remained hidden from public scrutiny,” said Majeke in a statement on Thursday.
“The reckless expenditure of R57-million, with an additional R14.5-million now required for the further rehabilitation of the Mdantsane swimming pool, currently lying in disrepair due to neglect and vandalism, represent a betrayal of public trust,” Majeke added.
Broken promises
Resident Nomvuyo Maguga told GroundUp, “We were very excited when we heard about the swimming pool. We thought our children would get jobs during and after the construction.
“When we heard that the government spent over R50-million, we asked ourselves where that money went because the pool does not reflect that amount of spending.”
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