Lester Kiewit interviews Justin Behrens, owner at one10sport.
The club received the notice on 19 November to stop its sports programme, after two complaints, apparently from residents.
The decision hasn’t gone down well with the broader community, who feel the club adds value to the lives of youth in the area.
An online petition to have the club return to the field has garnered over 2000 signatures.
We’ve been there for six years. When we arrived in 2017, it was a dilapidated facility occupied by vagrants. Over the years, we’ve injected over R1 million to revive the facility and bring it back to its former glory.
Justin Behrens, owner at One10sport
It’s just sad because we haven’t had any engagement from the City. We’ve relocated our academy down the road and all the social games we moved to Milnerton. This affects us significantly as a large portion of our membership came from the local community.
Justin Behrens, owner at One10sport
The academy teaches 150 children and has 14 employees.
While the organisation was given an opportunity to respond to the order, Behrens said the City insisted they had breached by-laws.
It was a sporting facility for 50 years and we’ve been told to cease activities. But the grey area is that the school that occupies the space can continue with its activities, but we can’t. In terms of dialogue, we haven’t had that with the City yet.
Justin Behrens, owner at One10sport
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