Public viewing areas now deserted after giant TV screens stop working

[caption id="attachment_35467" align="alignright" width="405"] STANDING IDLE: Legacy Mqolomba Park in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, is now strangely empty and quiet after the television screen stopped working. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]

WHERE communities gathered until very recently to create a weekend buzz, there is now only silence.

During the four years since the final whistle blew on the 2010 Fifa World Cup, residents from Motherwell and KwaNobuhle in Nelson Mandela Bay were still creating sporting gees in their communities through public viewing areas (PVAs).

But when pulling up to the surprisingly pleasant sight of a paperless park, albeit with partially damaged facilities, at Mqolomba Park in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage – which opened in December 2009 – the scene is very different from just three months ago, which was when the park's 30m LED screen stopped functioning. - Tremaine van Aardt