By Patrice Williams
Mwanza District Council has asked contractors to rebuild part of the Joyce Chitsulo Stadium brick fence which fell on Tuesday.
The development happened three months after the stadium was officially opened by former president Lazarus Chakwera.
Director of Public Works in Mwanza District Eric Nyekanyeka said, initially, they inspected the facility recently, when they observed some cracks on the stadium’s walls.
“We have a returning wall that holds back compacted soil as one of the protection works. So, it is just this returning wall that had some pressure on it due to a heavy downpour and because it had not settled entirely on it. The wall had some defects that were observed from the previous work [that was done]. We assessed earlier on and the contractor was already notified about the defects and they are on schedule to fix the defects.
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“As already alluded to, we do carry out assessments within the defects-liability period. We observe issues that might have occurred within the operation phase,” Nyekanyeka said.
He said besides part of the fallen wall, everything was in place at the stadium.
“The issue is not the one that is being portrayed on social is everything [else if fine],” he said. media. The stands are intact. So Bonongwe Construction Company Manager Maliseni Mtondera said the collapse was due to sand that was placed behind the wall.
He confirmed that they would use their own funds in rebuilding part of the wall.
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“We had already been notified of some defects before the collapse of the wall. Now we are planning to go there this week to commence work. Indeed, neither the government nor the council will pay us for these works,” he said.
Chakwera commissioned construction of the stadium in January 2024 before opening it in September this year.
According to the setup, the stadium’s ground floor has dressing and shower rooms, players’ toilets and a medics office while the upper floor includes a VIP section and toilets, a conference room and sports administrators’ office.
The stadium’s capacity is pegged at 8,000 and was constructed at a cost of K3.7 billion as part of the government’s decentralisation programme.
