Blantyre City Council (BCC) has issued a verbal warning to Kamuzu Stadium over poor sanitary facilities and services at the soccer Mecca, Times Sport can reveal.
The development comes after Kamuzu Stadium had their water supply reconnected after Blantyre Water Board officials earlier cut supply over unpaid bills amounting to around K39 million.
In the latest twist of events, BCC dispatched a team to inspect Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre last week after Times Sport highlighted health concerns at the venue.
The inspection team noted that a lot of sanitary materials at the stadium were stolen while some were not in working condition, a development the team said put spectators, especially those in the open stands, at risk, health-wise.
BCC Director of Health and Social Services Samden Seunda confirmed issuing the warning to the stadium.
“Our team established that they [Kamuzu Stadium] had water disconnected but it has now been reconnected. Most of the sanitary facilities are not working, [or] vandalised and grounds [are] not well kept— [there is] tall grass, [it is] bushy.
“We also established that there is poor solid waste management,” Seunda said.
Times Sport’s visit to the facility found that most toilets in the open stands were locked, with toilet cisterns and seats missing in some toilets.
Macmillan Mwale
Kamuzu Stadium officials were not immediately available for a comment as we went to press.
However, Ministry of Youth and Spokesperson Macmillan Mwale queried how we got pictures that depict conditions of the toilets.
On his part, Super League of Malawi (Sulom) President Gilbert Mitawa said they would engage Football Association of Malawi (Fam) on the next course of action.
“We, as Sulom, are always concerned when stadia and football grounds do not meet minimum required standards. As we push for the ‘Revive, Reform and Rebrand’ agenda, our desire is to see supporters and everyone else having access to quality and health facilities.
“For that reason, we will immediately engage Fam and Kamuzu Stadium owners and managers so that we can find a quick solution to this problem. It is also our plea for the government to intervene as soon as possible so that supporters, who are our main stakeholders, are not at risk,” he said.
Fam Club Licencing Manager Clement Kafwafwa promised to revert to us but had not done so at the time we went to press.
