After years of negotiations, Kaizer Chiefs have finally bought the land on which the team held its very first training session in Phefeni, Soweto.
The acquisition of the piece of land, which includes a church building and a dusty soccer field, was recently announced by the club's chairman, Kaizer Motaung.
The land is situated just across the street from Motaung’s Soweto family home, which was once the team's clubhouse during its early days.
Motaung said that the acquisition of the land did not come easy. “It took a long haul of observing the on-goings with the other attempted transactions to acquire this land…This is our home, where it all started. Our parents received people from all walks of life into this house. We had supporters arriving unannounced and they were always warmly received,” Motaung said.
“We want to use this land as part of preserving the history of Kaizer Chiefs, whilst at the same time giving back to the community. We intend to develop this into a proper sport facility. We want the children to use this to play sport with the goal of future stars emerging from these grounds. Who knows, some might even grow up to play for us one day.”
The land has been a subject of dispute between the community and its previous owner, Cliff Becker, who wanted to develop it for housing development. Locals, however, stopped Becker's plan as they wished for the ground to be turned into a football heritage site.
The dusty football ground in the childhood neighbourhood of Motaung was for the team's training sessions in 1970.
Becker reached an agreement with the Uniting Reformed Church, which originally owned the land, to build 43 houses on the piece of land several years ago.
In August, the land was bought by a Johannesburg resident in an auction for R2.2m.
The dusty soccer pitch is currently being used by local clubs for training and soccer tournaments. It is also used by a local team made up of pensioners, called the Phefeni Gogos.
It is the spot where Kaizer Chiefs legends such as the late Patrick "Ace" Ntsoelengoe, Joseph "Banks" Setlhodi, Ratha "Jimmy Greaves" Mokgoatlheng (who is now a judge in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg), and Stanley "Screamer" Tshabalala trained in the early years of the club.
Kaizer Chiefs marketing director Jessica Motaung said negotiations were difficult but the acquisition had to be made in line with the club’s 50th anniversary. “We are looking forward to making further announcements about the plans we have to develop this into a community sports facility. We will announce all that in due course,” she said.
Kaizer Chiefs spokesperson Vina Phosa declined to disclose the amount paid by the club for the land. The land will be managed by the Kaizer Chiefs Foundation.
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