A replica of the FNB stadium is included in the replica city, which was built in 2010 for preparations for FIFA World Cup, which was hosted by South Africa.
An unmet desire to visit the FNB stadium led 26-year-old Mulalo Nego Negondeni, in South Africa’s village of Mukula, in Limpopo Province, to create a mini-city in his backyard. The FNB stadium was built in 2010 for the FIFA world cup preparations, which were hosted by South Africa.
When Negondeni saw the stadium on television, he had an urge to visit it, but his family’s finances did not allow it. To overcome the disappointment of not being able to visit the stadium, he started building a replica in his backyard.
He started with using mud mixed with water. Still, his creativity grew in proportion with his mini-city, and he started using various materials such as soil, wires, plastics, cement, fabric, and cardboard, amongst others.
This led him to another path, i.e., advocating for the use of recycled material, and he is sending a message to the world to use waste material instead of flinging it away. While speaking on the subject, he focused on artists, particularly how they can create beautiful pieces from recycled materials.
To build the city, Negondeni has spent 12 long years. This is because he was not happy with the earlier versions and kept on redoing them and reconstructing them.
The design was 80% completed by 2018, but Negondeni still wants to add in more, but the space in his backyard is restricting him. We are sure he will figure out how to overcome this challenge. Expanding the city to the front yard, perhaps?
