The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and other associations that use the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam have been challenged to be realistic on figures collected from the gate revenue through events and matches hosted there.
Minister Fenella Mukangara
This challenge was made by the Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Fenella Mukangara, at an occasion to formally receive the stadium key from the government of China.
The Chinese government officially handed over the phase I of National Stadium Complex in Dar es Salaam to the government after seven years of a massive construction project. “Sometimes you wonder why the figures presented and the numbers of people who entered the stadium to watch matches do not match.
They tell you that they sold 57,000 or 60,000 tickets, while in reality more people than that figure had entered the venue, I think this should change now if we want to maintain this venue,” warned the minister.
Mukangara also cautioned events organisers to stop allowing into the venue more people than its capacity, saying if that is left to continue unattended the venue will wear out soon. When reached for comments, TFF General Secretary, Angetile Osiah, said it was a responsibility of everyone to ensure that the venue fetches the correct figures, saying TFF alone could not make that mission possible.
Osiah, who also attended the occasion, said that the problem is being largely contributed by “unscrupulous” security men, who are charged to man entrance points, instead, they receive tokens and allow people without valid tickets to enter the venue. He said the federation, government, police, bouncers who are charged to man entrance points at the venue and fans should play their role and ensure that only those with valid tickets are allowed into the stadium.
The TFF executive also said that the federation has always been printing tickets according to the stadium’s capacity, which normally does not exceed 60,000 tickets depending on the weight of matches. He also wondered why even some VIP enter the venue without buying tickets, citing an example of the 2014 World Cup qualifier match between Taifa Stars and Ivory Coast, which he said MPs without tickets swarmed the VIP and took seats from people who had paid to watch the match.
Osiah also blamed some officials who took advantage of high demand of tickets in big matches to exploit people by buying them wholesale and sale at higher price than should have, saying this has been forcing fans to seek for illegal alternatives to enter the venue.
However, Osiah remained confident that the use of electronic tickets, which will soon come into effect would be a lasting solution to the problem. In another development, minister Mukangara said that Uhuru Stadium which is currently undergoing massive renovation will be ready for use by November this year.
Source Tanzania Daily News
