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The recent flurry of movements following the ban on use of domestic stadiums for international matches has unleashed positive responses, but what is critical at this juncture is action.
We must, however, never confuse movement with action.
What the Confederation of African Football requires in order to allow the matches to proceed at Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo, is a plan of what is to be done, who by and when the task will be completed.
Initially the continental football governing body barred the National Sports Stadium and Rufaro Stadium from hosting international games but gave Barbourfields a reprieve provided certain renovations were undertaken.
But then what followed was a bombshell. Even Barbourfields could not pass the CAF yardstick for hosting the game against Algeria on March 29, 2020.
It is good that CAF has been very considerate in entertaining entreaties from Zimbabwe.
The country should be very grateful that it is being given a rare window of opportunity to put its house in order.
And it is commendable that one former football administrator, Lengthens Football Club owner, Beadle Musa Gwasira, has donated 100 bags of cement and offered to supply the fridges needed for the dressing rooms that will be used by match officials as well as one for use in the office reserved for doping experts.
What is critical now is to have everyone interested coming forward and preferably making their contributions as opposed to expressions of interest, so that gaps in the requirements can be identified and alternatives worked out.
This exercise should be completed within the next few days of this week.
Basically, CAF has indicated that it wants the following addressed: expansion of the changing rooms; doping room; media enclosure; Internet connectivity; floodlights; and improvement of the parking area.
So, already there is commitment for 100 bags of cement and fridges for the dressing rooms used by match officials and doping experts.
Next step should be division of labour.
There is need to outline who precisely is going to be running with what for the purposes of resource allocation, timelines, as well as accountability.
On the said basis, Bulawayo City Council could run with floodlights as well as preparing the pitch to CAF requirements.
For example, how many construction companies are going to be involved and what specific role will each of them be playing and what timelines will they be working towards?
Construction companies could undertake renovations or construction of the dressing rooms, changing rooms, doping office, media enclosure as well as the parking space and terraces.
Econet, TelOne, ZOL and Liquid telecommunications could be among candidates for running with the Internet requirements.
Once these have been sorted out and assigned to specific companies, the next step should be for ZIFA, the Government, the Sports and Recreation Commission and the Bulawayo City Council to approach CAF and present its roadmap to getting Barbourfields ready for hosting the 2021 AFCON qualifiers.
Meanwhile, these renovations companies would already have hit the ground running working around the clock, in shifts, so that by the time a delegation from CAF visits, they will declare Barbourfields Stadium fit for purpose.
These listed authorities could constitute the oversight panel responsible for on-site supervision of the day-to-day progress on renovations of Barbourfields Stadium.
Zimbabweans are good at eloquent presentations and even at promising to build bridges where there are no rivers. What, however, is required in this instance are doers, not armchair theorists.
Zimbabwe has come to this stage because it has people as well as officials who are very good at work-shopping, talking and holding endless seminars.
The CAF ban should be a wake-up call that there is need for people with capacity to deliver timeously, at all times. People should not deliver only when under pressure or under threat of sanction.
The focus for the moment must be on getting Barbourfields back on track.
There will be a lot of savings made from hosting the games in the country.
It would be a tragic indictment on not just the local authorities or soccer governing body, but the country as whole if CAF is to declare Barbourfields Stadium not fit for purpose when its delegation next visits.
If this works, it means a template for tackling most of the complex issues would have been identified, created and a mechanism established for future projects of such a magnitude.
It has always been a contradiction of sorts, that in this day and age companies and organisations prefer operating the way business was conducted during the 1960s and 1970s, while the Chinese work rate on the National Defence University and, the new Parliament in Mount Hampden demonstrates the criticality of working to timelines.
The next few weeks will define whether Zimbabwe is results-oriented and delivery-focused or whether it is long on promises, but woefully short on delivery.
Zimbabwe must prove to CAF that it can rise to the challenge.
Online Reporter