adminSikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
SPORT and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane has demanded a forensic audit of the African Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games facilities as it emerged that the government could have been defrauded of millions of dollars. The call comes following his recent tour of the Games’ facilities where he noted that contractors did a shoddy job as some are crumbling despite the $18 million poured into their construction. The Minister toured the City Pool, the White City Stadium track and netball courts, and questioned the poor quality of work done in comparison to the money used.
He questioned why the City Pool had not been used since the Games ended and discovered that both the main and practice pools are leaking. The swimming pool pumps are also not working and the water has since turned green due to algae.
Some officials had allegedly tried to cover up the leakages by pumping the pools to full capacity on the day of the tour of the facility by Minister Hlongwane. Little did they know that he would make another impromptu tour the following day where he discovered, to his amazement, that water levels had dropped drastically. He immediately took the officials to task demanding to know why they were trying to cover up the leakages. Ramps for the disabled have also been damaged and the paint is peeling off.
“The electronic score board shows evidence of poor workmanship and is disintegrating because the installation was not completed,” said the Minister in a statement through the ministry’s principal director Benson Dube. At White City Stadium, as reported by Chronicle Sport early this year, the Minister was told that the tartan track was only properly laid for 100M, while the remaining 300M needs to be redone to meet International Athletics Association Federation (IAAF) standards .
“The design of the media booth is not user friendly to the media. It was designed in a manner which does not give the commentators full view of the track and field. The changing rooms are not up to standard and walls are peeling off while the practice track is not completed,” reads the statement. At the netball courts, grass is growing as a result of cracks that have developed.
“Changing rooms for netball courts have started cracking. The government expended $18 million dollars on these and other facilities for the AUSC Region 5 Under 20 Youth Games in Bulawayo while $6 million dollars is still outstanding. The Minister of Sport and Recreation is disappointed with the quality of the works which he feels strongly that a better job could have been done.
“The Minister feels that there is a need for a value for money audit with particular focus on government’s investment into the infrastructure for the Games.” Chronicle Sport is reliably informed that about $250,000 from the money that was channelled towards construction has not been accounted for.
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