At a time the country is reeling from a cholera outbreak, another healthy concern has emerged following revelations that over 20 toilets at Kamuzu Stadium are not working forcing spectators to continue using dilapidated and messy toilets, Malawi News Sport can reveal.
Our investigations show that 75 percent of the toilets at the 20,000 capacity venue are unusable, and are stinking and filthy posing healthy concerns.
So far about 15 toilets are in use at the Open Stands where the most affected area is.
Disgusting images in our possession show un-cleaned toilets which can lead to cholera outbreaks and other waterborne diseases.
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The images show that people have been using some of those malfunctioning toilets due to a lack of alternatives.
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Ironically, football authorities continue to fix games at the venue despite Football Association of Malawi (Fam) banning the stadium from hosting international matches and other elite matches over safety concerns.
An ardent football fan, Moses Kamanga, has expressed concern over health issues regarding the stadium saying it poses huge risk not only to spectators at the Open Stands.
“The state of toilets at the open stands is now unbearable. No one would be willing to go and help himself or herself there.
“The sad thing about it is that over 20 toilets stopped working some years ago and people are forced to use these non-functional facilities because they simply cannot go anywhere,” Kamanga, a Ndirande Township resident, said.
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He said at first when he visited the area, he thought it was a once-off thing but was shocked to discover that it was the same case after visiting the stadium on three occasions.
Super League of Malawi General Secretary Williams Banda hoped that Kamuzu Stadium management would fix the venue.
“It is a very unfortunate situation and we hope cleaning will be done as a matter of urgency,” he said.
As we went to press Friday, Fam Club Licencing Manager Casper Jangale had not yet responded to our questionnaire.
However, Kamuzu Stadium Manager Ireen Mkoko could neither confirm nor deny the bad state of the toilets at the stadium as she attributed the matter to lack of funds.
“Iwe ku stadium timakomza zomwe tingakwanisezo [We only fix what we are capable of]. If you at Times have money you are welcome to donate at least do a social corporate responsibility of some kind. This facility belongs to us all,” Mkoko said.
In July, the facility made a K56.4 million gross gate revenue when Mighty Mukuru Wanderers hosted FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in a TNM Super League first round
