Start main page content

Project Background

The Zylstra Family and the Skye Foundation Trust have made an extraordinary legacy gift to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) for the development of the Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex on the Wits Parktown Education Campus. This new development forms part of Wits’ long-term plan to redevelop the western half of the Parktown Education Campus to provide a shared public, academic, research and sport space as part of the broader ‘Wits Sport and Health Precinct’.

The ultimate intention is to improve the health and well-being of a broad range of South Africans by developing amongst our students, and in the wider Wits and Johannesburg communities, a lifestyle that incorporates regular exercise as an integral component of everyday life. Aligned with this is a need to expand on, and improve, the care available to this invigorated and active society and the specialist services that support high-performance sportspeople.

In parallel to this will be the benefits to the University derived from:

  • improved understanding of sports science, sports-related health (and well-being) and sports medicine
  • the establishment of sports and exercise medicine as a medical specialty
  • improved clinical sports medicine services for the university and greater Johannesburg region
  • increased academic and research outputs across multiple disciplines
  • expansion and enhancement of existing services and facilities
  • incorporating research for evidence-enhanced services

From an operational perspective, it is envisaged that this will be achieved by the expansion of Wits Sport and Health (WiSH) predominantly in the Faculty of Health Sciences and improved facilities available to Wits Sport in attracting high-performance sportswomen and men.

The ‘Wits Sport and Health Precinct’ includes the following buildings and facilities:

  • The Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex (incorporating the current Impilo, DESSM and Thembalethu Buildings, indoor and outdoor high-performance and rehabilitation gyms and training facilities, therapeutic services and lecture theatres, the therapeutic and high-performance aquatics complex, an upmarket event/ conferencing facility and a high-quality accommodation solution for professional sport team clients)

  • The upgrading and further development of:
    • The two football fields, including a central cricket pitch, into a modern multipurpose field
    • The Hockey Stadium and Hockey Field
    • A grass running track
    • Squash Courts
    • Campus Canteen