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Sports Reporter
AHEAD of the historic 2010 World Cup in South Africa, some golden toilet seats, worth US$450 each, were installed for football legend, Diego Maradona, at the Argentina team facility in Pretoria.
The Argentine Football Association had complained to the hosts that they needed special toilet seats for a legend of the calibre of Maradona.
“They felt that it (the basins and toilet bowls) were not up to Maradona’s standards,” the then Pretoria High Performance Centre chief operations officer, Colin Stier, told The Sunday Times.
The golden toilet seats installed for Maradona were called the “best toilet seats” in the world.
Now, 13 years later, Prophet Walter Magaya has imported some golden toilet seats which he is installing at the Heart Stadium in Waterfalls, as part of an ambitious project to make it the best football venue in the country.
Images of the golden toilet seats have sent social media into meltdown.
The first phase of the Heart Stadium, with an initial sitting capacity of 5000, was officially opened by President Mnangagwa on Sunday.
There are plans to double capacity in Phase 2 of the project, which will include the completion of some Phase 1 sections like the toilets, which were delayed by the late arrival of imported equipment.
Among them are the toilet seats.
Prophet Magaya yesterday said he expects the toilets to be completed by next month.
And, he said the Maradona story provided some inspiration.
“During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Argentine legend Diego Maradona had a special request. The request was for premium toilet seats throughout the duration of the tournament.
“This shows that sports players have a level of comfort that they desire,” he said.
He added:
“We considered this as we constructed The Heart Stadium hence, we imported these golden heated toilet seats which shall be placed in every ablution area in the changing rooms.
“They arrived here during the evening on December 9th and shall be fully installed by January as we continue with our construction and perfection.”
Preliminary footage of the golden seats and toilets went viral at the weekend.
Prophet Magaya said there will be privacy when all the imported equipment arrives, which includes cubicles to separate the toilets.
“Dividing cubicles are still on their way so that we, at least, create privacy in the toilets in a professional way.”
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter