No Electricity, No Fence — Bingu Stadium Crisis Deepens After Blantyre Derby

The situation at Bingu National Stadium continues to deteriorate. Already without power after the electricity company disconnected supply over unpaid bills, the venue suffered fresh damage on Sunday when fans demolished eleven perimeter fence panels to force their way in for the Blantyre Derby.

The match, a league fixture between Mighty Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets, was played in Lilongwe after Kamuzu Stadium, the home ground for both clubs, was banned. Supporters breached the fence at around 5 pm, roughly half an hour after the 4:30 pm kickoff.

Ministry of Sports spokesperson Macmillan Mwale confirmed the damage has been assessed and said the ministry will write to the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) to take charge of repairs.

“I can confirm with you that eleven panels were damaged on Sunday night. We will need K3 million to fix those damaged panels,” Mwale said.

On the question of who foots the bill, he was unequivocal: “Event organiser Sulom will take charge. It is Sulom who requested for the stadium not teams. So, in this case it is Sulom to cover, it is up to them to engage teams over it.”

Mwale added that Sulom had sent representatives to assess the damage and expressed hope they would move quickly to restore the facility. Until the fence is repaired, the stadium cannot host matches.

The derby had been expected to be a major earner, Sulom projected gate collections of around MWK200 million, but the fixture grossed only MWK90 million, a figure that has left stakeholders unhappy.