Tenants owe Bingu Stadium
Bingu National Stadium (BNS) is struggling to recover money from tenants who defaulted on payment, The Nation has established.
A recent BNS management report to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which manages the stadium, also confirmed that some tenants have defaulted on payment.
The report released a month ago reads in part: “There are about 15 tenants in corporate boxes. Some tenants defaulted and left their office furniture and efforts to contact them have proved futile.”
The stadium has office space designated as corporate boxes where organisations and companies hire for their operations. They are currently paying K175 000 per month.
In an interview yesterday, BNS acting manager Ambilike Mwaungulu confirmed the development.
“I have been told that there were some defaulters previously. I don’t have much details regarding those ones. However, currently there are some that have outstanding balances and we are trying to find a solution to recover the money,” he said.
Mwaungulu could not be drawn to disclose the amount of the outstanding rentals, but a source said the previous and current ones are running in millions.
Asked what will happen if defaulters do not honour payment, the stadium manager said they will refer the matter to Ministry of Justice for legal action.
“BNS is a government institution, therefore, we can’t drag the clients to court. But we take such cases to our ministry which reports to the Ministry of Justice. It’s there where legal action can be pursued,” he said.
However, Mwaungulu said the issue has not reached a point where they can report to law enforcement institutions.
“We are still at a level where we can agree with the tenants how they will pay us. We won’t rush to take the matter further,” he said.
Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson Simon Mvundula said they are aware of the issue and warned defaulters that government will take legal action if payments are not honoured.
“Indeed some are not cooperative and we will be issuing a final warning before we take legal action,” he said.
Omega Security Company is one of the tenants at BNS and it owes government over K17 million in unpaid rentals dating back to nearly three years.
In an interview, the company’s managing director Anton Botes confirmed owing BNS, but said it is because government also owes them money.
“We offer security services at the stadium and government owes us over K35 million. If they don’t pay us, then where are we going to get the money to pay them?” he said.
