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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE Mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday came out fuming as he struggled to explain the circumstances surrounding the collapsed deal to have Rufaro Stadium renovated by local energy giants Sakunda Holdings.
The City Fathers, who previously had similar ventures collapsing under a cloud in the past, were left computing what could have been after the energy giants announced they were pulling out of the project, which many had hoped would bring life back to the stadium which once hosted international matches before suffering decay from years of neglect. Sakunda Holdings revealed in their letter of termination on Tuesday that they could not continue with the project “given the toxicity” and “a lack of political will on the part of the Council.”
However, Mafume yesterday addressed a press conference where he made counter-accusations against the corporate and dismissed the letter of termination, penned by Sakunda Holding Chief Operating Officer, Mberikwazvo Chitambo, as “disrespectful”.
He said the correspondence was not in line with terms of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties.
“They have lawyers; they know how to terminate.
“That’s why we still think that maybe he was angry. So he wrote an essay to the mayor simply to advise me that I am a toxic individual but beyond that we can’t even understand what was the purpose of writing that letter and we can’t construe it or misconstrue it as a termination of anything because what was the benefit? Why would you write a letter to a mayor of the City of Harare like that?
“I am sure they have protocol. I can’t understand why they would just want to write a letter of no legal impact and simply insult the office of the person they have addressed the letter to. It just doesn’t make sense.
“But no harm done, it’s a public office and we get those things. But we urge them to communicate in a more formal manner and in a manner that allows us to continue relationships because even if we don’t build a stadium together they operate in the city, they employ people in the city, they live in the city and their businesses are in the city.
“So I’m sure in the bottom of their hearts, they want a mutually beneficial relationship with the city. I don’t know the person who addressed the letter to me, what his intentions were and why he had such a lack of respect for me, but that’s a story for another day,” said Mafume.
Sakunda Holdings had committed to give Rufaro a massive face-lift, to match world class standards, after entering into a partnership with the Harare City Council.
The two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding early this year, enabling Sakunda Holdings to carry out some feasibility studies and come up with comprehensive plans and designs, which are now in the public domain.
The project management team even toured South Africa for benchmarking in the company of officials from the City of Harare.
However, the energy giants, who also bankroll traditional local football powerhouses Dynamos and Highlanders, said they were unhappy that their corporate social responsibility gesture was misinterpreted by some council
officials as a bid to takeover Rufaro.
“Following our numerous unsuccessful requests to present to your office our final feasibility study report and proposed designs for the refurbishment of Rufaro Stadium, we write to express our gravest misgivings on the unfortunate events and communications emanating from your office.
“We are shocked and disturbed by untruthful and malicious allegations that Sakunda intends to purchase Rufaro Stadium, which is a public asset.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and we believe you know that. These unfounded allegations are grounded on malice and a co-ordinated attempt to curtail our efforts to contribute to the revival and modernisation of public infrastructure.
“We wish to place it on record again that Sakunda did not have any commercial interests in this project, suffice to say that our participation in the same was entirely philanthropic, for the public good,” wrote Chitambo.
Mafume said the council could be forced to revert to their fall back plans to renovate the ground, which last hosted top-flight matches in 2019 before it was declared “unfit and a danger to human life.”
The Mayor blamed corruption for the previous failures to spruce up the amenities.
“I think we have done the best that we can.
“But do we have a plan for the stadium? Yes, we have a plan,” said Mafume.
The Mayor said the issue will be discussed at their next council meeting where they hope to convince the councillors to ring-fence revenues from Rufaro Marketing, beer levies and City Parking and be channeled towards stadium development. The meeting will come up with the timelines for the refurbishment of the stadium.
“This stadium was built using revenues from Rufaro Breweries. We are in the process of taking Rufaro Marketing back to the residents. We have 85 bars that do not give revenue to the city but to individuals.
“We are taking those 85 bars back and getting the revenue back to the city. We own, as a city, the biggest opaque beer brewery in Southern Africa, which is being used by Chibuku.
“That brewery has been so successful… and we are getting zero cents from that brewery since 1995. It is still the biggest brewery in the region and it is making a lot of money.
“That money will be ring-fenced to develop our stadiums as it was by the previous administrators who built Rufaro Stadium.
“We have a beer levy that we are supposed to be getting from the people who are selling beer in this country… We are going to ring-fence that beer levy to develop our stadia because even if we don’t have Rufaro we need to develop other stadia for the city.
“So we have a plan; all we need to do is to manage our revenue flows and that is exactly what this council is doing. We have fired the board that was there and we are in discussion with Delta Beverages to come to the fore and tell us the amount of rentals that they were paying to that individual, who was taking all the money from the brewery.
“We have got revenues that are coming from City Parking. Those revenues must go back to the community and must be ring-fenced to develop the stadiums.
“So not all is lost. We are able to do that but if there are people that want to have naming rights on our stadiums and have that level of money, we will do it and we also have to consult the community.
“For the avoidance of doubt, as a city we are willing to negotiate with anyone in good faith and within the bounds of what we can do as a city over public assets. If the process adds value, we will engage in that process,” said Mafume.
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