Lack of ownership leaves BAT ground in shambles

Overgrown bushes. Crumbling terraces. Decaying seats. A fence that is collapsing. And oh the stench!

Operating from the dilapidated BAT Ground in Blantyre, the Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) is like a tenant in a house that is crumbling.

But it is the mist over the premises’ ownership, says the association, which makes it hard for it to renovate one of the country’s most storied football facilities.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports, which bought the facility from British America Tobacco (BAT) a decade ago, claims that it transferred ownership to Sports Council. Not so, says the council, retorting that there is no legal document shifting the ground’s ownership.

This mystery has left the ground—considered the country’s oldest football heritage—in pitiful state.

Wooden seats have decayed, leaving dangerous gaps exposing protruding nails in the terraces.

Fans sit in between nails. When it rains, there is no shelter. Water rarely runs in the rusty taps, bringing an unsavoury smell.

The perimeter fence was vandalised and hangs in few stretches. The concrete terraces on the southern side are also crumbling.

The pitch remains bumpy and dusty in summer and muddy and slippery in the rainy season as is the case now.

It has remained unattended to in three years and nobody knows when it will be.

SRFA chairperson Raphael Humba claims his association would love to put back the ground to its shape as one of the best football venues that in the 1970s and 1980s hosted big games and big names such as Kinnah Phiri and Jack Chamangwana.

“BAT Ground was bought by government and handed over to Sports Council who, in turn, gave it to us as tenants. But the conditions are that all money we collect from activities must be paid to Kamuzu Stadium management, yet we are supposed to pay utility bills from our coffers,” Humba explained in a recent interview.

He noted that such conditions make it difficult for SRFA to channel proceeds from activities such as social games into renovations. There are also sponsors willing to advertise on billboards at the ground, but Humba said the association’s hands are tied. Government also stopped BAT from constructing a restaurant that was meant to generate money.

However, Kamuzu Stadium manager Charles Mhango said the ground was meant to be handed over to his office after renovations, which have not taken place.

Apart from Kamuzu Stadium, BAT is the only public ground capable of hosting competitive games. SRFA recently secured K10 million Nsejjere sponsorship, which includes merchandise for clubs to sell at venues such as this ground.

“A few years ago, I heard that government had handed over the ground to Sports Council, but we understand that they asked for ownership papers, which I am not sure were provided. To be honest, the facility is not generating anything,” Mhango said on Monday.

Surestream Academy coach Abel Mkandawire on Monday admitted that the surface at the ground was not good, “but that is the reality at most grounds in Malawi, you cannot do otherwise.”

So bad are football grounds in the Southern Region that Nyasa United player Martin Chongwe feels the BAT pitch is better, “but the wooden terraces are broken and very risky. You cannot dare step on them when you are not playing.”

Government bought BAT Ground after FAM president Walter Nyamilandu feared it could be demolished.

However, despite consuming some millions in renovations after government take-over, the last of which lasted for two seasons, BAT Ground cannot stand on its feet. In 2012, then Sports minister Enoch Chihana was so disturbed at the sight of the ground despite millions being spent on the supposed renovations that he called for an audit on the same. Such a call for an audit proved to be mere lip service as it was never pursued.

The ministry’s principal secretary Justin Saidi last month claimed that the ground was handed over to Sports Council, but council executive secretary George Jana recently said the council was finding it difficult to decide on the ground in the absence of papers of ownership.

“One would not want to assume responsibility and probably spend on a facility that may in future be taken away from them. It is enough cause for an audit query to spend on someone else’s items/activities unless it is reflected as a donation. At the moment, we are investigating on the ownership to try and get them transferred to council so that works can start. We believe we should be able to finalise in the next month or so,” Jana explained.

Council is playing it safe after the ministry also repossessed from it Kamuzu Institute for Sports (KIS) and placed it under the Youth Department of the ministry instead of the Sports Department.

Facilities under council’s wing such as the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) are in relative better shape whereas those under the ministry’s direct control such as Kamuzu Stadium are in shambles as money generated from it is deposited into Account Number One whose use of money is spread among competing needs.

In this vein, Jana advised SRFA to tread carefully on its plans to revamp the facility “or they may lose money,” adding that they can explore other private facilities “and this advice is to all sports associations and organisations. Government can only offer so much which, ordinarily the world over, is never enough.”

Saidi was not readily available to elaborate on documents supporting the ground’s transfer to the council.

But Jameson Ndalama, director of sports in the ministry, shared Saidi’s earlier position on BAT’s ownership.

He, however, insisted that he needed more time to trace the paperwork.

“We wrote council about the ownership. As for SRFA, we did not say they should run the ground. We just allowed them to stay there as they have been there for a long time. I was concerned this week to see that there is a lot of bush. Anyway, give us time to establish more on this,” Ndalama said on Tuesday.