Eastern Cape football boss Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi has thrown in the towel and is in talks with the Buffalo City Metro to hand back control of its football stadiums.
Do you have R6m a year to spare? If your answer is yes, then you can have one of East London’s sports stadiums named after you or your company. The new owners of BCM Stadium (previously known as Absa Stadium) are looking for a partner who will assume its naming rights. Chippa Holdings owner Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi, who recently signed a 20-year lease agreement with the city to use and manage both the BCM and Jan Smuts stadiums, this week confirmed he was looking for a partner after whom the.
One of the country’s prestigious independent schools groups, Curro, could soon open its doors for the first time in East London if the wishes of Chippa United boss Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi, are anything to go by.
Widespread complaints by BCM sport enthusiasts who were either barred from using East London’s Absa and Jan Smuts Stadiums, or were charged exorbitant fees to do so, should soon be a thing of the past. The metro has finally signed a 20-year lease agreement with Chippa Training Academy just over two years after the council approved the long-term leasing of the two stadiums, which are adjacent to each other, to Chippa United football club boss Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi.
The Border-Kei Chamber of Business has raised concerns about the leasing of a BCM sports stadium to Chippa Holdings, pleading with the municipality to review its decision, which it said was crippling sports activities in the metro. The chamber, in a recent letter to mayor Xola Pakati, claimed the leasing of East London’s Jan Smuts Athletics Stadium to Chippa United FC boss Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi for the next 20 years, has literally “killed athletics in our city”.