Former Springbok Wynand Claassen has approached lawyers to appeal against Heritage Western Cape’s rejection of classifying the Newlands Stadium as a heritage site.
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Claassen has reportedly taken his appeal to Anroux Johanna Marais, minister of the Western Cape Cultural Affairs and Sports department, as shared by South African Lawyer. In a 93-page report, Bridget O’Donoghue, architect and heritage specialist, found that the stadium does not meet the necessary requirements to be classified as a heritage site.
‘Based on the findings of the study, the demolition of the Newlands Stadium, like the demolition of many other historically significant stadiums in other parts of the world, would not represent an irreplaceable social loss.’
Although the report does acknowledge that the site holds special memories for many rugby supporters, ‘for the current generation, the future of rugby is already associated with the Cape Town Stadium’.
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According to EWN, Claasen submitted an application to have the stadium declared a heritage site earlier this year while WP Rugby was finalising its sale. Claassen’s application brought the sale to a halt.
‘The heritage application, that was made by Mr Wynand Claassen, put a halt to any of the proceedings,’ says WP Rugby Administrator Rian Oberholzer. The companies that were interested in obtaining the properties around Newlands said they cannot proceed any further until the heritage matter has been resolved. That makes sense, as nobody is going to buy the property when there is a risk that afterwards, they cannot utilise it for whatever purposes they bought it for.’
‘The proposal to declare the stadium a heritage site has the potential to derail so much hard work that has been done to stabilise WP Rugby both on and off the field.’
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Picture: SA Rugby Mag / Gallo Images