The Ministry of Youth and Sports has suffered a delay in its quest to have Bingu National Stadium (BNS) chairs replaced before the start of the 2025 football season.
In January this year, the ministry advised Football Association of Malawi (Fam) to speed up the renovations in readiness for the new season following two incidents that left some chairs at the facility vandalised.
However, the 2025 season will kick off on Saturday, with Silver Strikers facing Mighty Wanderers at BNS in Lilongwe.
Coincidentally, the cases in question involve the two sides as suspected fans for the sides allegedly vandalised the chairs in separate incidents that happened during the 2023 Airtel Top 8 and Castel Challenge Cup finals.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Macmillan Mwale admitted that the matter had dragged on.
“The issue has, indeed, taken time but the ministry is closely working with Fam, who booked the stadium— being event organisers—and [they] are making arrangements to procure the chairs.
“Fam is cooperating well and we are making good progress since the chairs cannot be found locally,” he said.
Mwale said they could not deal with Silver and Wanderers directly as the venue was hired by Fam.
“We are following [up] with Fam to conclude the matter,” he said.
He also clarified that after assessment, it was established that 164 chairs were damaged in the two matches, such that the cost has been changing over time.
Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda could not be reached for a comment on the issue.
Recently, the association’s communications and competition’s director Gomezgani Zakazaka told this paper that the matter would be sorted out soon.
“The problem was [that] the supplier that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had referred us to has been delaying the process. So, we spoke with the ministry [‘s officials] this week to change [the supplier] and look for another supplier, who looks responsive and will deliver,” Zakazaka was quoted as saying.
Both Wanderers and Silver officials expressed commitment to fix the seats.
At first, Wanderers were fined K22 million for damaging 239 seats during the 2023 Airtel Top 8 opener against Silver.
On the other hand, Silver were ordered to replace 145 seats following an incident that happened during the Castel Challenge Cup final against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
