Polokwane Municipality have confirmed that Sekhukhune United’s clash with Marumo Gallants and the Magesi FC & Orlando Pirates tie will be staged at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium due to the damaged pitch at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium.
This comes after the pitch at the 2010 FIFA World Cup venue was left damaged by the concert hosted by musician Makhadzi over the weekend.
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Sekhukhune were meant host Marumo Gallants next Saturday and Magesi FC’s meeting with Orlando Pirates on Sunday at the 45 000-seater facility, however improper covering of the pitch for the concert left it in no state to host football matches.
The municipality’s Mantlako Sebaka said the pitch needs extensive work with predication for the venue to host professional matches at the end of January 2025. There are four league matches already scheduled for Polokwane in the month of January and Sebaka says to not overburden the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, they hope to use Seshego Stadium as an alternative.
“The grass there requires a bit of tender care and proper maintenance,” Sebaka told iDiski Times.
“We need to remove the dead grass and put in new seeds and work around it and take care of it, so hopefully by the end of January we should be up and running. Already we have the Seshego Stadium that should be commissioned from the beginning of January, so we will try and ensure that we distribute the games to Seshego Stadium as well.”
Sebaka further explained that they were assured by the event organisers that the pitch would be covered as it’s anorm with non-football events however pitch covers weren’t delivered last minute, leaving the municipality to use theirs to cover parts of the ground.
“Initially, our plan was that we should have the whole pitch covered but obviously it’s the responsibility of the event organisers to ensure that they do so,” added Sebaka.
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“Up until the last minute our wish was that we were looking at the possibility of the pitch covers delivered but they were never delivered to the facility even though we used our one to cover half of the pitch.
“Unfortunately, the pitch was not all covered and that’s where we are at the moment.”
