Woodlands Stadium faces possible closure
Written by Millennium on July 24, 2019
SUN REPORTER writes
@SunZambian
WOODLANDS Stadium, one of Lusaka’s oldest soccer venues, faces possible closure following the fatal accident which happened there Friday, July 19.
One construction worker died while two others were seriously injured after part of the stadium collapsed as they tried to demolish a section of its outer wall to pave way for construction of a shop.
But Lusaka Mayor Miles Sampa said the stadium would be closed if the findings by the National Construction Council (NCC) prove that that the stadium management was at fault.
“Waiting for a report from the National Construction Council. If they are at fault, tizabavala,” stated Mr. Sampa in a post on Lusaka Mayor Media Alert WhatsApp group yesterday.
The NCC announced on Saturday it had launched investigations into how the construction company, Liege Africa, embarked on the demolition work at the stadium without securing the area and putting safety measures in place.
The NCC announcement followed indication by the Town Clerk, Alex Mwansa, that Lusaka City Council (LCC) had not been consulted over the demolition works at the stadium.
“We had not authorized or cleared those demolition works, we were not consulted before undertaking those works,” said Mr. Mwansa.
But in a letter to the Sun Sport yesterday, City of Lusaka Football Club General Secretary, Julius Sialuzu, said the Woodlands Stadium site had already been cleared by NCC.
“For the record, we would like to inform the public and other stakeholders that no shopping mall collapsed at Woodlands Stadium on Friday. The Lewanika Shopping Mall is still under construction at Woodlands Stadium and will be completed soon,” said Sialuzu.
He said, “In fact, the National Council for Construction (NCC) reopened the Lewanika site yesterday while the stadium site should be reopened tomorrow for construction to resume.
“The unfortunate incident which happened on Friday where one worker regrettably died was an occupational hazard. The accident on Friday happened when the contractor was demolishing one shop to pave way for a new structure to house a food chain outlet, at the Woodlands Stadium Shops. The structure was being demolished on purpose and the area was hoarded off for safety purposes but in the process of bringing down the structure, three workers were injured resulting in one death,” said partially read Mr Sialuzu’s letter.
According to Police spokesperson, Esther Katongo, three workers were injured during the accident, two of them were taken to nearby Chilenje Level One hospital while the other one who was seriously injured was rushed to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
She named the injured victims as Aaron Moonga and Enock Sakala, and Codrine Shamayoba as the deceased.
