--- title: "Which parks are next? Joburg silent as Rhodes Park row grows" description: "A new plan by the City of Joburg to privately lease portions of Rhodes Park has sparked a residents’ petition and renewed scrutiny of Joburg’s treatment of public parks and sporting land. From Field and Study Park to Mushroom Farm and the Killarney Country Club, communities are questioning who gets rights over some of the city’s most valuable recreational spaces – and on what terms." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "RENT VS RECREATION" author: "Anna Cox" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/anna-cox/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-27-which-parks-are-next-joburg-silent-as-rhodes-park-row-grows/" published: "2026-09-27T22:23:23" updated: "2026-09-27T23:31:31" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 1914 --- # Which parks are next? Joburg silent as Rhodes Park row grows > A new plan by the City of Joburg to privately lease portions of Rhodes Park has sparked a residents’ petition and renewed scrutiny of Joburg’s treatment of public parks and sporting land. From Field and Study Park to Mushroom Farm and the Killarney Country Club, communities are questioning who gets rights over some of the city’s most valuable recreational spaces – and on what terms. By Anna Cox · Published 28 September 2026, 00:23 SAST · Updated 28 September 2026, 01:31 SAST ## Key points - A proposed lease of six portions of Joburg’s Rhodes Park has triggered a residents’ petition and fears that public green space could be quietly privatised. - The City says the deal targets neglected facilities — including the restaurant, bowling club, sports grounds and tennis club — and will not restrict public access. - But disputes at Field and Study Park, Mushroom Farm and Killarney Country Club reveal a murky pattern of leases, commercial interests and conflicting municipal mandates. - With JPC refusing to say which other parks are under review, the bigger question is clear: which public recreational spaces are next? ## Content A plan to lease six portions of the historic Rhodes Park in Kensington for sporting, recreational and commercial uses has sparked a residents’ petition and opened a much bigger debate about what the City of Johannesburg intends to do with its public parks. The row erupted after the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) circulated an internal notice on 12 August concerning Erf 2836, the 221,372m² property comprising Rhodes Park, valued at R46.9-million. The notice said the proposed transaction was intended to ensure that the City continued receiving revenue and to reduce the risk of invasion or buildings becoming dilapidated. But residents, property owners and park users launched a petition demanding that JPC abandon plans to lease Erf 2836, or any portion of it, to private interests and that the City protect and maintain Rhodes Park as an accessible public green space. Their concerns extend beyond the possible loss of green space. ![Community facility](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/kv5CATJ42hobZk7Qd4DFAOeeFGE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks15_929553.jpg) *Litter can be seen at the community facility at Rhodes Park on 25 September 2026. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![The lake at Rhodes Park, surrounded by vegetation and recreational areas on 25 September 2026. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/PHcZj-glSaDy9tC23GobFrHmkKk=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks10_741990.jpg) *The lake at Rhodes Park, surrounded by vegetation and recreational areas, on 25 September 2026. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* Residents, in the petition, say the KenRho Park Tennis Club provides free coaching and subsidised sporting opportunities to young people from Malvern, Bezuidenhout Valley, Troyeville, Yeoville, the inner city, Cyrildene and Kensington. They argue that active sports clubs make the park safer and that residents and voluntary organisations have invested their own time and money in maintaining municipal infrastructure. Others fear commercial operators could restrict access and threaten mature trees, birdlife and the character of one of the northeastern suburbs’ major green lungs. Ward 66 councillor Carlos da Rocha said he was not opposed in principle to private commercial activity in particular sections of the park, but was concerned that the documentation referred to the stand number of the entire property. “I want to know which sections will be privatised. It cannot be the whole park and until the City clarifies that, I will not accept the proposal,” he said. Da Rocha confirmed that he submitted his response during the 14-day internal circulation period, which closed on 28 August. In response to Daily Maverick, JPC clarified that the entire park was not being offered for lease. It identified six portions: the dilapidated restaurant; former bowling club; soccer grounds and clubhouse; a community facility; former Junior Traffic Training Centre; and the tennis club. ![anna-rhodes-parks](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/Lhqhde-Ip36Cn8AnechFiFSs1jg=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/DM_MapofRhodesPark_671197.png) JPC said “commercial purposes” meant a restaurant or another business complementary to the park, and said the restaurant area required refurbishment or redevelopment. There were no existing leases because previous lease rights had lapsed, JPC said, although the soccer and tennis clubs and community facility remained occupied. Once the council approved the transactions, existing occupants would be invited to participate, it said. This means the existing occupants would not automatically retain their sites but would be invited to participate in the process. JPC said that after the council determined that the portions were not required for basic municipal services, they would be released through a fair and competitive tender process in terms of section 217 of the Constitution, unless circumstances justified a deviation under Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulation 36. ![The dilapidated restaurant at Rhodes Park](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/rNdq5hfXFz49iCucT9C1oByQv1U=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks5_626291.jpg) *The dilapidated restaurant at Rhodes Park showing signs of deterioration and neglect on 25 September 2026. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![The dilapidated restaurant at Rhodes Park](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/z-djIhVRK9F3bE-2PEdCLx__NKY=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks7_178744.jpg) *The interior of the restaurant at Rhodes Park is in a poor state. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![The deteriorating bowling club at Rhodes Park](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/1ZzZWyb76LFIcORTdTBHJllb_w8=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks11_489870.jpg) *The deteriorating bowling club at Rhodes Park on 25 September 2026. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* ![The tennis club at Rhodes Park](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/_v6cC9KmkamPUCUOuClmSD2NdMU=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks14_607805.jpg) *The fence surrounding the tennis courts at Rhodes Park is falling over. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)* JPC said the proposed leases would not affect free public access to the park or reduce the amount of public open space, adding that it had received no applications, expressions of interest or unsolicited proposals for the properties. Instead, JPC described Rhodes as “part of the lease renewal project we are currently undertaking”. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) said it supported the lease renewals, saying they would contribute to the “activation of the park” and improvement of the properties and surrounding area. That raised a wider question. Daily Maverick asked the City how many other municipal parks, sports grounds or properties zoned public open space were currently being considered for commercial leasing, redevelopment or changes of use, and asked JPC to identify them. JPC did not provide the requested number or list. [Media: "Parks and Properties Under Scrutiny"](https://bernard-lgtm.github.io/jhbparks/) ### Field and Study: a three-year battle Across Johannesburg, Rhodes Park is far from the first public green space to become embroiled in a dispute over private commercial activity. Friends of Field and Study (FOFS), a nonprofit organisation which says it has cared for Field and Study Park in Parkmore for more than 20 years, has been fighting proposed development there since 2023. FOFS chairperson Charles Mills told Daily Maverick that the organisation was trying to protect the park from “commercial development plans of a private company, which were initially supported by JCP&Z but are currently being driven by Johannesburg Property Company”. “We questioned the legality of this commercialisation process and asked for proof of legal compliance, which has not been provided,” Mills said. FOFS says a proposal presented in February 2023 included eight padel courts, additional parking, a road leading to a restaurant, a hydroponic grow farm and offices. In April 2024, FOFS launched high court proceedings seeking to interdict development and prevent tenders being received for development of the park, including its restaurant area. The litigation remains live but has been placed on hold while the parties pursue mediation. According to FOFS, the City has committed in writing that no development will take place until the dispute is resolved. FOFS is not opposed to all commercial activity. It supports reopening the former restaurant, but wants a transparent process and commercial operations confined to the restaurant footprint. The dispute has also exposed the sometimes confusing division between JCPZ, which manages parks and park-adoption arrangements, and JPC, which controls municipal property transactions and leases. ### Killarney: lease was not purely commercial The debate over recreational land acquired important legal significance in April when Killarney Country Club successfully challenged JPC’s attempt to cancel its long-term lease. The club’s lease, which runs until 2040, provides for nominal rental of R2 a year. In setting the cancellation aside, Acting Judge Dephney Mahosi found that the rent was deliberately nominal because “the true quid pro quo is the provision of a public amenity to the local community”. The lease enabled sporting and social amenities to be provided to the public, the court found. “It cannot, therefore, be said that the lease is purely commercial in nature,” Mahosi said. ![Killarney Country Club. (Photo: Instagram)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/HK1UPNk-u6dBXJ63K_FFsWAOb6Q=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks205_913858.jpg) *The Killarney Country Club. (Photo: Instagram)* The court found that the decision to cancel the lease was unauthorised, procedurally unfair, irrational and disproportionate. Mahosi said the alleged breaches were minor and had been remedied, describing the response as an attempt to “destroy a 100-year-old institution that provides valuable public amenities”. The cancellation was reviewed and set aside and the City and JPC’s counter-application to evict Killarney was dismissed. The judgment did not, however, excuse the unauthorised commercial arrangements that had triggered the dispute. An advertising sublease was found to have lapsed and the advertising tenant was ordered to leave. The judgment nevertheless has significance for the wider debate because the court recognised that the value returned to the City under a recreational lease does not necessarily lie only in the rent collected. In its response to Daily Maverick’s Rhodes Park questions, JPC was also asked whether the Killarney judgment had changed its approach to municipal recreational leases and whether nonprofit sports clubs would have to tender when their leases expired. JPC referred the questions to its legal department. No substantive response was provided. Save Our Park’s Heather Oosthuizen welcomed the judgment, saying communities had been maintaining parks and they should be kept alive for the people around them as Johannesburg’s “green lungs”. Many parks still supported wildlife, including mongoose, she said, describing them as “life-support systems”. ### Mushroom Farm: when the lines blur Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton illustrates yet another form of public-private arrangement – and what can happen when the lines between park adoption, occupation and commercial leasing become blurred. Truffles on the Park has operated commercially while years of disputes involving JPC, JCPZ and Mushroom Park Activations unfolded over its legal position. Ward councillor Andrew Stewart previously described the dysfunction between the municipal entities as feeling like dealing with “two different cities”. “At times it felt like dealing with two different cities. City Parks says one thing, JPC says another,” he said. More recently, the City acknowledged “various legal, contractual, property and operational issues” at Mushroom Farm. It said JCPZ and JPC were engaging the private party through two different mechanisms: a Park Adoption Agreement with JCPZ and a lease with JPC, while interim rental payments were being made into the City’s property portfolio. The City has also been investigating an unauthorised dome at the park, while the executive mayor said the city manager would be asked to conduct a comprehensive investigation into its historical and current arrangements. ### A much wider lease debate The City’s focus on recreational leases predates the current Rhodes Park proposal. Public outrage erupted in July 2025 over JPC plans to review leasing arrangements for some of Johannesburg’s best-known sporting and recreational properties, amid fears that valuable public land could be sold, leased commercially or redeveloped. At the time, JPC sought to allay fears that the properties were being sold, saying it was reviewing old lease agreements, some dating back decades. It questioned why City properties worth between R10-million and R50-million were being leased for nominal amounts, including R2 a year at Killarney Country Club and R49 a year at Marks Park. [Read more Johannesburg Property Company retreats over parks cash grab August 5, 2025 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/orBEgZG25KFKmaZsyTXpBblcbkI=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IMG_2556.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-08-05-johannesburg-property-company-retreats-amid-backlash-over-parks-cash-grab/) JPC described the review as a “purely business decision”, saying rentals should be market-related. It said it intended reviewing and renegotiating leases rather than simply selling the properties, although it would also consider whether sites should remain restricted to sporting purposes and their “highest potential” use. Properties identified at the time included Marks Park, Killarney Country Club, Ruimsig Stadium, Pirates Club, Wanderers Stadium and Diepkloof Plaza. JPC said other leases, including those involving bowling and tennis clubs, would also be investigated. The circumstances are far from uniform. ![Pirates Club. (Photo: Instagram)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/lV-yRIqZWxTXcrqeVai43rZtOY0=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks06_184619.jpeg) *Pirates Club. (Photo: Instagram)* ![Randburg Sports Complex. (Photo: Instagram)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/_5tcLgV_VPa11IXJtRqdwUoFuTE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/anna-rhodes-parks09_548136.jpeg) *Randburg Sports Complex. (Photo: Instagram)* Marks Park previously said that despite its nominal rental it maintained its facilities and had spent substantial amounts on municipal infrastructure. Pirates Sports Club said it was already paying between R35,000 and R45,000 a month in what it regarded as market-related rental while maintaining its own facilities. Similar questions over tenure are emerging at other City-owned recreational facilities. ### George Lea Park, Parkmore At George Lea Park in Parkmore, the future use of the Sandton Sports Club grounds has become contentious amid plans linked to cricket and the 2027 Cricket World Cup, while at Randburg Sports Complex sporting organisations have previously complained that insecure or short-term tenure is preventing investment in facilities. Both raise related questions about how the City manages recreational land, although they fall outside the immediate disputes over Johannesburg’s public parks. Johannesburg therefore faces two competing problems. Some historic leases return almost nothing in rental to a financially distressed municipality, while neglected facilities desperately need investment. But clubs and community organisations argue that their maintenance, sporting programmes, security and public amenities themselves have substantial value – a consideration recognised by the high court in the Killarney judgment. **DM**