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Sports Reporter
HARARE Mayor Jacob Mafume has pledged to act swiftly to resolve the dispute between the municipality and a city contractor over Rufaro Stadium’s electronic turnstiles, amid concerns by Premier Soccer League clubs over revenue losses at the entry points.
The City fathers are locked in a row with a company that erected electronic turnstiles at the popular Mbare venue in line with the major refurbishment of the stadium.
The dispute turned nasty ahead of last Sunday’s Premiership showdown between CAPS United and Highlanders following revelations that the company — Lonsburry Industries — had switched off the initial 18 electronic turnstiles they have put at Rufaro because Harare City reneged on a contractual obligation to pay for the work.
Mafume yesterday acknowledged the importance of functional turnstiles at Rufaro, which if left unresolved would compromise security and also result in clubs losing potential revenues at the entry points.
He said he expected the dispute to have been resolved within the next two days.
“They are being resolved it’s a matter of payment and I am sure a payment plan is being worked and that will be sorted within the next 48 hours.
“It’s (electronic turnstiles) a major issue so it has to be done well and it will be done,” Mafume said. Rufaro has 36 turnstiles and in line with the recommendations from the Confederation of African Football, they must all be electrified so that stadium authorities and the user teams must be able to account for everyone who enters the venue. Half of the electronic turnstiles have since been put up but they have been temporarily dismembered after Harare City reportedly failed to honour their side of the bargain by paying for the work done so far.
Premiership giants Dynamos and CAPS United, who both use Rufaro expressed their displeasure at the chaos the dispute is causing at the entry points.
Local teams rely heavily on gate revenue and with the reverse fixture of the famous Harare derby clash between Dynamos and CAPS United looming the giants have reason to be worried.
Dynamos chairman Moses Maunganidze said he was hopeful that the dispute would be urgently resolved.
Although they are away in Botswana on CAF Confederation Cup duties this weekend, Dynamos are expected to feature in a mid-week assignment at Rufaro on their return from Francistown.
“Turnstiles are key to the club revenue, as they assist in having the paying public access to the stadium with ease. The longer and more cumbersome it takes for the paying public to access the stadium, the more likelihood for corruption to obtain at the gates, thus leading to the club registering losses,” Maunganidze said.
“We can ill afford the luxury of having half the stadium filled by spectators, who would have paid money to some corrupt cartels manning the gates.
“As the biggest club with a huge fan base, we implore the parties involved in the dispute to find each other as a matter of urgency so that stadium tenants are not fleeced by some corrupt gate-keepers, who would take advantage of either dysfunctional or bad turnstiles.
“We have big games coming soon, like the Harare derby Part Two against arch-rivals CAPS United and Chibuku Super Cup assignments, which require fool-proof gate management”. Maunganidze is also worried about the dent in the image of the brand of the Premiership if there is chaos at the entry points.
“Poor gate management drives away fans and this no doubt hurts attracting good numbers at Rufaro Stadium,” he said.
CAPS United chief executive Morton Dodzo had earlier also voiced his concerns.
“Potentially it creates a crisis, more so when you introduce a new system.
“In terms of managing the change, it becomes difficult and that is how money gets to be stolen when you have turnstiles that are not efficient and there is always a flurry of fans between 2.30pm-3pm and if we are not careful even tickets will be recycled and clubs end up losing much-needed revenue.
“This worries us,” Dodzo said.
Online Reporter