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E33 000 BILL PER NIGHT MATCH

25/10/2019 08:58:00 BY CHRIS DLAMINI

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MBABANE – It’s shocking! The country’s soccer Mecca, Somhlolo National Stadium has been put on ice for evening or night activities due to escalating electricity costs. Mostly affected by the indefinite suspension has been the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE), which hosted MTN Premier League night games at the venue to avoid fixture congestion.

Suspending the night activities was the stadium owner, government through the Sport, Culture and Youth Affairs Ministry which conveyed a correspondence to the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) as reported by this newspaper on Wednesday. The EFA passed the message on to the PLE, who have already had to reschedule the elite fixture between Young Buffaloes and Royal Leopard.

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The match, which played on Wednesday, was initially scheduled for a 6:30pm kick-off but was brought forward to 3:30pm. It has since been claimed in our investigations that the ministry’s concern over the huge bills accumulated by the stadium due to the floodlights usage is a serious one.

It is understood that this had been coming for some time now but football was hopeful there would be another way out. However, the current situation is that the night games cannot take place at the arena in Lobamba.
“The PLE and EFA knew about the concerns some time before the ministry’s decision to temporarily suspend night activities until a lasting solution was found as they continue to hold discussions with EEC and probably EFA and PLE.
“While clubs are charged E500 for the floodlights per match, it still isn’t anything even if you have four double-headers because the minimum amount those lights take in every 30 minutes they are on is E11 000,” claimed an impeccable source close to the matter.

This effectively means a whole 90-minute football match at night can accumulate slightly more or less E33 000 and if it’s a double-header, the bill shoots up to E66 000. PLE’s Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati asked not to commit himself at this stage and instead referred questions to his superiors and the EFA.

PLE Chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula briefly said: ‘Yes, it’s what the ministry cited in its lette,” before referring further questions to the ministry. The PLE COO had said, earlier, that it was obviously bad for them as they have a tight schedule along with that of the national team, Sihlangu Semnikati, the Ingwenyama Cup and EswatiniBank Cup as well as the league.

It is also understood that the ministry has requested that the matter be kept within for now in as far as revealing the figures involved is concerned. What has been made clear though by close sources in the ministry is that the fee paid by clubs and the bill spoken of are two different worlds as seen above.

The minister responsible for the ministry, Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga was also sought for comment but it was learned that the ministry’s Communications Officer Sibongiseni Zondi was responsible for the matter.

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“The ministry will not make any further comments regarding this issue. You are kindly requested to refer to the press statement that was issued on October 22, 2019. If and when there are new developments, the ministry will timeously update the nation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC) Corporate Communications Manager Khaya Mavuso also said they had little to say on the issue.

“Ours is that we refer all queries on this matter to the ministry. We also acknowledge that we did meet with the ministry who sought our advice on their bill and we gave them some available options. We did not switch off the lights and that is the ministry’s decision,” he said, while insisting the ministry were better positioned to comment.

On the E11 000 per 30 minutes, he said he would not be certain but what he knew was that the stadium required more frequency for the floodlights. According to the EEC website, the charges also depend on the tariff number and charges, which vary per stadium that has the facility in question.