Sports clubs face ruin as city set to up rates

It would be game over for many Johannesburg sports and social clubs should the city go ahead with its radical plan to reclassify recreational sites and charge them higher rates.

The municipality's 2013-2014 draft rates policy, which has been opened for public comment, proposes that sports and social clubs - non-profit organisations that fall under the "land for recreational use" category - be billed as business and commercial properties from July 1.

Should the draft be approved and made policy at the city's council meeting at the end of next month, sports clubs - which are not legally supposed to make a profit - would be charged the same rates as businesses and other commercial ventures.

Non Welsford, general manager of the Pirates Sports and Rugby Club in Greenside, said: "We are under huge pressure. We seriously have no chance of survival, no chance. For us, it would mean the rates go up by 1400%, which would mean we would lose all our members.

" It is very scary."

The Club Management Association of Southern Africa, an umbrella body for 350 sports clubs, yesterday held an urgent meeting with the metro's officials.

Its general manager, Beryl Acres, said: "This categorisation, together with the new values placed on the land on which clubs operate, will have a serious impact on the finances of the clubs, with some already indicating they will be unable to pay the proposed rates and will have to close their doors.

"[We have] met city officials in an attempt to mitigate this situation and [have] been afforded the opportunity to explain the tough economic climate for sports and recreation facilities as well as the constraints on clubs in terms of their constitutions, which govern each individual club," Acres said.

Well-known sports clubs around Johannesburg said they were concerned that, should this plan go through, they could close their doors as early as August - meaning residents would be robbed of facilities that offer them a variety of sports, from cricket, hockey and soccer to golf, bowling and tennis.

Attempts to obtain comment from the City of Johannesburg yesterday were unsuccessful.

Pirates' Welsford called on Gauteng sports MEC Lebogang Maile and Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula to intervene.

"They say our athletes must bring back so many Olympic medals. How can you bring [home] even one medal if you don't have grassroots sport?"

Anne-Marie Davey, an accountant at the Parkview Golf Club, said though the club made "zero" profit, the implementation of the policy would result in its spending 20% of it gross income on rates, shutting it down in a year or two.

"I'm hoping that this is a mistake on their part because so many clubs will be out of business if they introduce these rates . [For us] it amounts to R2-million in rates a year," Davey said.

Lizette Driescher, manager of the Old Parktonian Sports Club in Randburg, said like many other clubs in the city, hers would have no option but to close down.

Driescher said the city's move would deprive the club's members and non-members from surrounding areas, and those from disadvantaged areas such as Soweto, of the benefits of using the recreational facility.