“Kwa Masiza Stadium” by David Sthuntsa Mokoena

The Kwa Masiza stadium was well built by Iscor Steel Company in the last forty years; the stadium was built with top quality material. The Vaal Professionals Football Club as it was renowned then used to be the home ground hosting team at Kwa Masiza stadium. The Vaal Professionals used to play in the professional soccer league and had hosted the likes of Iwisa Kaizer Chiefs; Orlando Pirates amongst others, and it was only then when South African football was a close reality when witnessing stars like Doctor Khumalo; Marks Maponyane; Johannes Mine and the list could be endless but to name a few. It was a great time as I would remember we had visitors all the way from Pretoria; Carletonville; Soweto and the Free State one could imagine how big and hectic the stadium was? Even athletes used to host tournaments at the stadium, I believe then that the Emfuleni environment was good even the economy was at its best because people would largely frequent in and out of Sebokeng just to come and watch beautiful soccer games at Kwa Masiza Stadium.
It has not been clear weather former owner Iscor had handed the stadium to the Emfuleni Local Municipality but since the company was privatized to Arcelor Mittal other assets such as Kwa Masiza everything changed eventually. We visited the place recently and what we found there was not impressive at all. The conditions were seriously dilapidated with vandal motives. The stadium has been left with no fence, office buildings and Spar supermarket had been vandalized and the athletic track been removed on the southern part of the field. We noticed that the surrounding area was significant of pine trees that even some were growing from below the grand stands on the northern part of the arena. The stadium has now changed into a life threatening situations simply because the stadium is now used for all the wrong reasons.