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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
YOUTH, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry is disappointed with the state of Magamba Hockey Stadium.
Coventry yesterday toured facilities that included Magamba, Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex and Mufakose Area A Community Hall where they are intending to have a youth interactive centre.
The minister was in the company of directors from the ministry and the Sports Commission.
It was the Magamba’s state which shocked her not only because of the neglect the facility has endured to an extent that the offices housed there have been abandoned and are not being cleaned.
The ceiling boards in some of the offices have collapsed, electrical sockets and cables have been vandalised.
There is need for a new astro turf for the pitch.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the Chitungwiza Aquatic Centre. There is a lot of work that needs to be done but I was surprised in the state at which it has been kept, it’s at least . . . the offices are clean, they have been used. The pool, there is a lot of work to be done there.
“I was surprised when we went underneath the pool, what is actually still there, that was good to see,” said Coventry.
However, the pools need a lot of work with some sections of the main pool peeling off.
Coventry said although it will take a lot of work and money to resuscitate the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex, there are possibilities they will look at on how to go about it.
The indoor sports hall also needed some refurbishment, the lighting and repainting of some parts of the walls among other things.
“The Chitungwiza Complex was built for the purpose of multi-sport, so you have got the multi-purpose hall, the netball and basketball courts, etcetera.
‘’So, I think in phases it can be redeveloped maybe not both pools. But I think the possibilities are endless.
‘’There are possibilities, I think we can look at redoing it, it will take time, it will take money and it will take good partnerships.
“The hockey stadium, it’s very sad to see the state that it is in.
‘’I know years ago with previous ministers there was money raised that could have come back into the hockey stadium and refurbished it and that money was sent to Bulawayo for the stadium there to be built.
“And ,I don’t think that stadium is being used much at all. So this stadium is in much worse condition than I was expecting it to be, the astro turfs, we won’t be able to salvage any of them.
“So, the bones are still there but it’s a lot more, a little bit more of a daunting task, I think looking at it.
‘’But with that being said there are always things that we can try and do. There are always partnerships and again it comes back down to the sport strategy,” said Coventry.
The minister said the interactive centre being worked on in Mufakose is one of the 40 centres they are hoping to establish across the country.
She was accompanied by Eugenia Chidhakwa, who is also a director in the ministry, and deputy director sport and recreation, Ignatius Vambe as well as Sports Commission director-general Prince Mupazviriho.
Online Reporter