Malawian referees on Cosafa duty
By Mabvuto Kambuwe In Port Elizabeth, Rsa
Mbandambanda
Four Malawian match officials are part of the officiating personnel at this year’s Cosafa Women’s Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, South Africa.
The four are Happiness Mbandambanda, Agness Chamaere, Rose Zimba and Martha Nyekanyeka.
Zimba and Chamaere are centre referees whereas Mbandambanda is an assistant.
Nyekanyeka is at the regional tournament as match assessor.
This could be good news for the country as the development could help raise their international profiles.
Nyekanyeka said she remained confident that the Malawian referees would deliver at the competition, which kicked off on Wednesday.
“It is a motivation to the referees and Malawi as a country. My message to them is that they should do their job professionally because they are our flag-carriers at the tournament. This also shows that we are improving in refereeing,” Nyekanyeka said.
The Malawian was an assessor during last year’s Region Five Games in Gaborone, Botswana.
During the 2018 edition of the Cosafa Women’s Championship, Mbandambanda was the only Malawian in the competition’s officiating crew.
Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) is, for the first time, hosting two tournaments in the senior and under-20 categories concurrently.
Malawi failed to send an under-20 team and only has a senior side which started the tournament with a 2-0 win over Madagascar in Group A.
The match between the two other teams in the group, South Africa and debutants Comoros Islands, ended 17-0 in favour of the former.
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