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E15M FOR SOMHLOLO TURF, SYNTHETIC TRACK

13/12/2021 08:30:00 BY CHRIS DLAMINI

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EZULWINI – It’s all good news for Somhlolo National Stadium.

The Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs led by Minister Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga has entered Phase Two of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) banned Somhlolo National Stadium revamp. This stage has already seen the football artificial pitch and athletics synthetic track completely removed the place resembles an excavation site. This, it has been confirmed means a new artificial turf for football and also a new running synthetic track for athletics.

“We’re allocated E15m for each phase and we’re done with the first phase which was the rehabilitation of the dressing room area and the building covering them,” Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Ministry’s Communications Officer Sibongiseni Zondi explained when he was asked about the latest developments at the country’s soccer Mecca that has been out of bounds from International games since the 2017/18 season. Local games were last hosted in March last year before government banned all sports due to COVID-19 and for revamping of the facility purposes. “We consulted with EFA and AE who recommended the FIFA-approved turf and IAAF-approved synthetic track. It’s already on the way to the country,” Zondi said.

He said the cargo was being shipped from overseas and has been on one for weeks now. He added that while he could not get into the prices of the material, the second phase allocation of E15 million also covered a media room that will enable journalists of all kind to do their work in their own space as that had been non-existent.

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Meanwhile, Athletics Eswatini (AE) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Victor ‘Mavikane’ Dlamini said they were always short of the synthetic running tracks.
“It’s a great move. We only had two as a country, one at Mavuso Sports Centre and the other at Somhlolo and that one was worn-out,” he said. He said the signed MoUs with PLE and EFA were based on exposing the country’s sprinters during games and also getting access to EFA facilities. However, he said as AE they had always wanted to have one running track in all the four regions of the country. He added they were already overjoyed that government was changing the one at Somhlolo National Stadium and also anticipated to benefit at KaLanga Technical Centre and Mkhuzweni under EFA’s FIFA Forward Programme that Eswatini uses for Technical Centers. There is already one at Lobamba, Nhlangano and KaLanga while Mkhuzweni in Hhohho is under construction.

Meanwhile, the turf was installed in 2007 and cost about E4.8 million while track was installed by Daimler Chrysler from Germany before the Stadium was officially handed back to government and EFA in the same year. The turf had a lifespan of 25 years but poor maintenance and belief in the supernatural (muti) saw it cut and dug in a case that was allegedly reported to the police around 2010. It was also not watered before and after matches as per its maintenance rule and if it was, it would not be in every game on a hot summer day. The synthetic track as also dilapidated and it was posing danger to athletes.