UMHLOLO KA-SOMHLOLO!

LOBAMBA – A serious health hazard!  That is the current situation with the country ‘soccer Mecca’ Somhlolo National Stadium as public toilets are in a deplorable condition.

The toilets, which are situated near the stadium’s parking lot, are used by the public during national events, especially when there are soccer games.
Most of the sinks in the restroom are broken with others lying on the flooded floor as water is continuously leaking from broken pipes that are connected to the sinks.

The Times Sports Desk made a visit to the stadium to assess the situation after a tip that the toilets were not in good state for human utilisation.
It then transpired that the restrooms in bad condition were those used by men while the ladies’ was in a much better condition.

Some of its urinals need urgent attention and plumbing as the pipes are heavily blocked and urine washes down the wet floor.
Other urinals were covered in refuse bags to indicate that they were out of order, however, they are apparently used by some members of the public despite the situation, which is the same as urinating on the floor as the urinals are not working.

Director of Sports at the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Lucky Sihlongonyane said he was yet to get feedback from his team.
This is after this reporter informed him that there were allegations that the dire situation was as a result of unruly fans who vandalised the infrastructure in this past weekend’s ‘Y’ello Sunday games fixtured at the stadium.

The ministry’s Communications Officer, Sibongiseni Zondi, said they had paid a visit to the stadium to assess the situation at the restrooms.

fans

“We have established that this was not caused by disorderly fans over the weekend. It is a condition that has been there for a while now and the ministry is working around the clock to swiftly address the challenge,” he said.

Drawn for comment again, the director said it was true that it was a challenge they had encountered a while ago as highlighted by the communications officer.
Asked on how much they estimated it would cost to fix the problem, Sihlongonyane said he could not really say as that would be misleading information.
however, he indicated that they had a plan to solve the crisis. “When we fix the dome and dressing rooms, the toilets will also be repaired as they form part of one refurbishment phase,” he said.    

Meanwhile, Somhlolo was declared a health hazard by CAF inspectors last year in March, which resulted in the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) resolving to host international games at Mavuso Sports Centre.
The CAF inspectors’ team found that Somhlolo was unfit for use due to rundown infrastructure in the form of toilets, dressing rooms, floodlights, and plumbing.

 
refurbishment

The ministry was recently reported to be short of at least E8 million to resume work for the first phase of the refurbishment of the stadium.
According to the first quarter performance report tabled in Parliament, the ministry was allocated an annual budget of E55 138 427 for the current financial year 2019/2020.
Of this amount, E45 138 427 was allocated for recurrent expenditure and E10 million was allocated to a capital project (Somhlolo revamp).


   
  
 

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