Ethekwini municipality to manage Moses Mabhida Stadium

The eThekwini municipality will take over the management of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, it was reported.

It would not renew the contract of the caretaker operator, Municipal Management Services, which has managed the stadium since 2009. The Mercury reported. The contract ends in June.

Municipal Management Services reportedly incurred an operating loss of R11.5 million against an projected loss of R30m from June 2011 to June last year.

According to the newspaper, opposition parties had argued that this could result in the stadium becoming an even bigger financial liability for ratepayers.

The Mercury reported that the eThekwini municipality would manage and operate the stadium internally, under the guidance of sustainable and city enterprises manager Naledi Moyo and deputy health and social services manager, Musa Gumede.

The Minority Front would prefer the stadium to be treated as a separate entity so that it could reflect its actual expenditure and income, councillor Patrick Pillay told the newspaper.

His biggest concern was that caretaker operators did not have the necessary skills to run such facilities.

DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango told The Mercury his party was against municipal entities being run by the city.

"Officials should focus on service delivery," Mncwango was quoted as saying.