Pinelands, Cape Town

Pinelands Friends of the Oval

Standing together for community sport and open space at the heart of our suburb

About Us

We are residents, sports people, abutting neighbours and community members who believe that the Pinelands Oval should remain an open, shared community asset - with no part of its playing area being fenced or leased exclusively to or for the use of a single sporting code.

Our purpose

Pinelands Friends of the Oval formed in 2026 in response to the City of Cape Town's consideration of a lease application by the Pinelands Hockey Club (PHC). The group gives structure and voice to widespread community concerns: keeping people informed, coordinating objections and submissions, engaging media and ward councillors, and, where necessary, challenging a process that many believe is flawed.

PFOTO includes cricket, athletics and frisbee field users, adjoining property owners and Pinelands residents who value the Oval as open, green space. The group is working towards formal registration as a City-recognised Friends group.

What we are not

We are not opposed to hockey or to sports development in Pinelands. We are opposed to granting any single club or sports body a lease over the playing fields - and in particular to a proposal that would require fencing, floodlighting, hard surfaces and the slicing up of the total Oval area, thereby restricting full access to the many groups and residents who use the Oval today.

The proposal

PHC seeks to lease 60% (approx 5300m²) of the City-owned land (Erf 3138), also known as "The Oval". The leased area, shown on the City's plan, covers the entire lower Oval (apart from the Pinelands Athletics Club clubhouse area) and portions of the upper Oval. The area covered is more than triple the area required for a single astroturf hockey field.

PHC's stated plan is to invest about R9 million in an astroturf hockey field and floodlights. Club hockey in the Western Cape is now played on astroturf; PHC has not played on the grass hockey fields at the Oval since 2015. PHC argues that the proposed astroturf represents 20% of the Oval's surface, with the remainder being available for community use. Many objectors dispute both the lease area extent, the suspiscious area outline and claims that current usage can continue unaffected alongside a fenced astroturf facility.
The lease, if granted, would carry a nominal rental of R1 386 per year.

Who uses the Oval

The playing fields themselves have not been leased to any sports club. Ward councillors have confirmed that only clubhouses and their immediate fenced surrounds are leased - not the open fields. The Oval was set aside for the people of Pinelands when the suburb was founded by Garden Cities.

On the upper Oval, the Pinelands Sports Club (PSC) holds a long-standing lease on the clubhouse and its fenced immediate surrounds. PSC comprises the Pinelands Cricket Club, Pinelands Hockey Club, and Ultimate Frisbee, who share the building: cricket predominantly in the summer season, hockey in the winter playing season, and frisbee with access year-round.

On the lower Oval, the Pinelands Athletics Club has a similar arrangement - a leased, fenced clubhouse - and is another significant user of the open space alongside cricket, soccer, frisbee, walkers, schools, play groups, dog walkers, and the wider community.

The Mutual Football Club, who lost access to their fields at the Old Mutual complex in Pinelands, have recently been using the Oval as well. Football pitches are marked out alongside the cricket pitches so as not to interfere with or damage them. Soccer is typically a winter sport, complementing summer cricket on the same grass.

The City process

The City is running this as a land lease public participation exercise through the Property Transactions Department. Key steps so far include:

PFOTO and many residents have raised serious concerns about this process, including:

The group has also lodged objections with the City, pursued PAIA requests for records, and raised the matter with the City's Ombud. See History for a timeline and Documents for official links.

Our aims