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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
RUFARO and Gwanzura stadiums continue to deteriorate as Castle Lager Premier Soccer League matches crowd the National Sports Stadium despite continued assurances from the City of Harare that they were upgrading stadia across the city.
The once neatly manicured, lush-green surface at the giant facility is fast disappearing due to overuse with the venue staging an average of three matches every weekend.
Five Harare-based clubs — Dynamos, CAPS United, Herentals, Yadah and Harare City — use the National Sports Stadium as their home ground with two others — Black Rhinos and Cranborne Bullets — being forced to look for an alternative venue in Rusape.
Yet, two stadiums in the city, Rufaro and Gwanzura, continue to lie idle despite the City Council selling a dummy to the media each time they are asked about the “refurbishment” update. The municipality has failed to continue refurbishment works at Gwanzura which was started following their Memorandum of Agreement with the Office of the Presidential Envoy and Ambassador at Large (OPEAL), Uebert Angel, over four months ago.
The OPEAL has since finished the construction of a two-user toilet superstructure with plumbing works still to be done while the pitch has fully been prepared for the planting of lawn.
There is nothing the City of Harare have done so far with no signs anything will be done anytime soon.
Even with spokesperson Innocent Ruwende telling The Herald the municipality has set aside $36 million towards the upgrading of the Highfield venue, this is not the first time that the council has thrown figures around to appear as if there is something being done.
In October 2018, the City of Harare said they were committing US$700 000 to ensure that Gwanzura would be ready for the 2019 PSL season.
“The Harare City Council will, in the coming weeks, start the full-scale refurbishment of one of our sporting facilities, Gwanzura Stadium in Highfield.
“The council has set aside US$700 000 for the work. The first aspect is to address the issue of water supply to which the City Council has already made payment for borehole drilling.
“The contractor engaged for the turf attendance will be on the ground as soon as the installation of the borehole is completed.
“The contractor for the turf will also address drainage issues,” said former City of Harare spokesperson, Michael Chideme.
“There is also this issue of bucket seats for the stadium. We will place them across the stadium, although we will have to do that in phases. All in all, the stadium will be ready by April 2019.” As if that wasn’t enough, the municipality went on to tell the nation in April last year that $3.5 million had been budgeted for the upgrade of both Gwanzura and Rufaro with the latter allocated $2 million. Stewart Mutizwa, who was the Acting Mayor of Harare, said the two facilities would be ready for use last year.
“As council, we are very much alive to the deteriorating state of our stadiums. So we have set aside a budget of up to $3.5 million to which $2 million is for Rufaro and the remainder for Gwanzura.
“The renovations will start next week. We will also be working with the football stakeholders who will be guiding us through. We are happy to announce that all is now set for the renovation works,” said Mutizwa.
And in February this year, Education, Health, Housing, Community Services and Licensing Committee Chairperson, Patson Mangwiro-Chikwaka, said the two stadia would be ready for use for the PSL games.
But on the ground, besides the initial work done by the OPEAL, there is nothing happening at Gwanzura. The venue continues to deteriorate with part of the perimeter wall and touchline fence already fallen.
However, the City Council has reassured that work would be starting soon and the venue will be up by next year.
“The preparation of the pitch for the planting of the lawn has been done and the engagement of the contractor for the installation of the irrigation system is underway,” said Ruwende.
“The City had budgeted around ZWL36 000 000 in 2022 for the following works at Gwanzura stadium: upgrading of toilets, refurbishment of perimeter walls, upgrading of floodlights, construction of changing rooms, upgrading of the turnstiles, installation of technical area, installation of an electronic scoreboard among other works. Outstanding works will be carried over in the 2023 budget.”
However, there is hope after the City of Harare signed a MoU with Sakunda Holdings who have undertaken to upgrade the facility.
The venue, though has been hosting some Northern Region Division One Soccer League and Women’s Super League matches of late.
“The City signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Sakunda Holdings for the refurbishment of Rufaro Stadium. Currently the feasibility study for the refurbishment of the stadium is underway. Scope of work, budgets and timelines await the completion of the feasibility study,” said Ruwende.
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