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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday said the council is going to introduce a 24-hour working regime at Rufaro to speed up the refurbishment of the stadium.
The Council has missed three deadlines they set themselves since they started the renovations at the beginning of the year.
Mafume, who has been accused of politicising the stadium cupgrade, yesterday conducted a media tour of Rufaro where he blamed the poor working culture for the delays in completing the work, which they had initially pegged to finish in one month.
“The problem has been the working culture and we are changing the working culture,” he told journalists.
“I would rather people work 24/7. But people in Zimbabwe like to sleep a lot.
“We can’t have a country where everybody sleeps at night except those that go to night clubs and those that go to the mountains to pray.
“I’m changing the culture. There was a bit of complaints from the workers so I suspended that. But we are going to come back to a 24-hour regime, have shifts; we have to change and work like the Chinese; 24-hour regime and three weeks or four weeks we are done.
“This idea of coming to work at 8am and rushing home at 5pm as if you are at a boarding school or there is a curfew is not going to build a city. We work every day.
“That’s a culture I am trying to get into the Council. Those cultural issues, that work ethic issues have delayed my time table. If only the people had maintained the 24/7 working regime.
“This affects not only the Council. Even our suppliers; you give them an order and they go to sleep. Work culture issues are things that delay the implementation of projects in Harare and in Zimbabwe in particular. “We had availed the money and all the materials. We have everything, but people like to sleep.”
There has been little progress since the last stadium tour conducted by Mafume and PSL chairman Farai Jere in early May.
For over three years, Rufaro, which happens to be the favourite and most convenient among the Harare fans and football clubs alike, has been lying idle.
The ground has been condemned several times by local and international inspectors as unfit to host topflight football games. Rufaro, which was built in the 1970s, had deteriorated to unacceptable levels due to lack of maintenance, leading to its closure in 2019.
The stadium inspectors highlighted nine areas which required attention before Rufaro could be allowed to host league matches again.
They wanted the playing surface to be levelled, new pitch perimeter support structures and a new razor wire around the perimeter wall to be installed.
They also expressed dissatisfaction over the drainage system and the ablution facilities which they wanted overhauled, as well as the expansion and upgrading of dressing rooms for teams and match officials. The inspectors wanted the Council to provide facilities for the physically challenged and to improve the general cleaning of the stadium and its surroundings.
Other areas of concern included the lack of direction signs to the stadium as well as the spectators’ seating areas which needed to be installed with bucket seats.
The CAF inspection committee also made similar recommendations the last time they came to Zimbabwe to inspect the stadium and added more areas of concern.
These included the construction of such facilities as standard doping rooms, a medical facility, press rooms, television camera points and installation of modern electronic turnstiles.
The City of Harare have vowed to restore it to its former glory and work has been progressing over the last few months. Most of the key areas however, are still to reach completion.
“We all agree that a lot still needs to be done at the stadium, but we have a critical path which we need to finish first for the stadium to be used,” said Mafume.
“The rest of the work will be completed while the stadium is being used. We have the critical path, once we are done with the pitch and the changing rooms, then we can use the stadium while we finish other areas,” said Mafume.
Rufaro is largely expected to ease pressure on the National Sports Stadium, which has experienced fixture congestion since the start of the season, due to a stadium crisis in the country.
Online Reporter