The Mandela Bay Development Agency has been given the green light to continue managing the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium for another year.
The proposal to have the MBDA manage the stadium for three years was shot down on Tuesday when city manager Noxolo Nqwazi revealed the revenue of the R52bn asset had allegedly dropped from R38m to a meagre R11m.
After a lengthy debate, councillors also agreed that a feasibility study, a cost-benefit analysis and a benchmarking exercise be undertaken.
A performance management report will also be compiled, to be tabled in council in the next year.
In 2020, the council mulled over the idea of outsourcing the running of the stadium to a management company after a three-year contract with the MBDA to run the stadium came to an end in 2019.
At the time, city officials said there were no economic spin-offs in how the stadium was managed compared with when it was run by Access Management.
The Herald reported in February that the stadium was yet to make enough profit to sustain itself — almost 13 years after the first match was played at the landmark venue.
The MBDA needed more than the R50.8m allocated for the 2021/2022 financial year from the cash-strapped municipality to finish off the remainder of the fiscal year.
The situation was worsened by the excessive costs of maintaining the 46,000-seat venue.
“At this point, there is no information that has been brought to council such that it commits council to a three-year term,” Nqwazi said.
She said a feasibility study would help the council make an informed decision.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom questioned if one year would be enough to gather the required information.
“What is the intention of the feasibility study? is it not to figure out if it is cost-effective to use the MBDA or must we use a private company?”
EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha proposed the MBDA be scrutinised closely.
“If the MBDA is not doing what it is supposed to do then there should be a performance review and consequence management done in relation to that,” Ngqisha said.
Ngqisha said more needed to be done to create stability at the MBDA.
AIM councillor Khusta Jack called for the stadium’s performance to be benchmarked against other 2010 Soccer World Cup stadiums.
HeraldLIVE