adminEllina Mhlanga
Sports Reporter
NEWLY-PROMOTED Premiership side, Cranborne Bullets, have offered to second artisans from the army to help fast-track work at Rudhaka.
The club intend to use the Marondera stadium as their home ground.
The Premiership debutants struck a deal with the local Municipality to host their matches at Rudhaka.
While they are still to engage the ZIFA First Instance Board, on the adjustments that need to be made, club chairperson, Douglas Gwite, said they were likely to take the leading role in the refurbishment.
“There is no progress for now, partly because we did not push ZIFA for the inspection,’’ he said.
“We concentrated much on the Covid-19 relief funds, and the bubble proposals, of which Rudhaka is not earmarked for that.
“In a few weeks, we will have it inspected.
“Again, we can determine (areas of concern) after the inspection.
“But, certainly, artisans like plumbers, builders, electricians, welders will be availed, in agreement with the Marondera Municipality, who are the owners of the stadium.’’
Although there are no specific timelines, when they expect the ground to be ready, Gwite said they were hoping work could be completed by early next year.
He said they were hopeful of bringing on board companies to support the club in their Premiership campaign.
“Like I said before, the army is catering for the bulk of our (needs) but we expect the corporate world to come in handy, some are already in and others are promising.
“But, these will be unveiled just before the resumption of the competitions,” said Gwite.
The Bullets boss believes moving to Marondera will help them establish a fan base unlike playing in Harare where they will have to compete with giant clubs like Dynamos and CAPS United.
Marondera Municipality director housing and community services, Justin Chivavaya, said they were waiting for the inspection of Rudhaka to see how they will proceed.
“We have not yet gone into the details of the partnership but our expectation was that if ZIFA do come, and make an assessment of the stadium, pick up the snag list, we will then give it to Cranborne Bullets to work on and then they would recover from our charges,’’ he said.
“We subtract costs from our charges, something like that. This is how we feel as a local authority.
“It’s offsetting what they would have put into the renovations of the stadium, so far, we have not yet gotten the assessment.
“We are waiting for Cranborne Bullets to push. There are some requirements, which are needed by ZIFA, like the turnstiles, I think that’s one of the issues and, possibly, the perimeter fence and then a bit of touch-ups in the changing rooms”.
“To me it’s not much but it depends on what ZIFA really wants.”
Chivavaya said the move by Cranborne Bullets to take their home matches to Marondera was a positive development for the community.
“Of course, there will be excitement, their favourite teams coming to play at Rudhaka and it’s something which will be coming after a very long time.
“So, I think, it will be well received.
“The enthusiasm is there.”
“The enthusiasm of receiving such big teams like Dynamos, CAPS United coming to play, I think they have a lot of following here, so people would get more entertainment.’’
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