Rundu Sports Stadium without water

WINDHOEK – Grass on the football pitch at the Rundu Sports Stadium in the Kavango East Region is slowly wilting away after its water supply was cut off about two months ago, because the line ministry owes the municipality over N$800 000.

The bill has not been paid since end of 2015, and local sports organisers were forced to stop all events planned at the venue because of the lack of water.

Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service Sports Officer in the region Someno Erastus said they are in communication with head office to fix the problem.

“We owe a huge amount of money to the town council and they cut off our water. I am worried that the grass is going to die and it will take us a long time to get it green again,” he told Nampa on Tuesday.

It is the only national sports stadium for the Kavango East and Kavango West regions, and can host football, athletics, netball and basketball matches.

The stadium this year hosted the annual The Namibian Newspaper Cup; Namibian Police Games; Namibia Correctional Service Games; and Namibia Defence Force Games.

However, its temporary closure now hampers sports activities in the region.

“The stadium will soon just be dust instead of grass and I am worried that the same will happen to our sports in the region,” said Erastus.

Justice Kavari, a clerk in the sports directorate, told this agency the ministry receive invoices late but they are working on a plan to fix the problem.

“I remember last year the stadium had a bill of N$100 000 and the directorate might have not settled the current account because invoices were not received and that might have increased to the figure in the picture now,” he said.

Asked about the enormity of the bill, Rundu Town Council’s Chief Executive Officer Romanus Haironga said the current bill includes monthly charges for not paying.

“If water bills are not settled monthly we always add charges the following month.

“We also charge different rates for different locations, which might also have increased the bill depending on how much water was used on a monthly basis,” stated Haironga.

Documents availed to Nampa from an inside source show that water usage at the stadium was N$39 787.28 in January this year, which reduced to N$27 011 the following month but skyrocketed from March onwards. By June, it was N$76 132.70.

Meanwhile, the stadium is also now without electricity as of Wednesday this week because of an outstanding debt of N$59 486.92 owed to the Northern Regional Electricity Distribution Company for electricity provided. – Nampa