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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
HARDLY a month after turning down a potentially game-changing deal to revamp Rufaro, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume yesterday led a joint delegation of council officials and the Premier Soccer League on a tour of the run-down city football facilities.
The delegation, which included Harare City officials, city architect Leonard Chirombo, City Parking officials and the Premier Soccer League, toured both Rufaro and Gwanzura to get an appreciation of the work that needs to be done to make the two facilities functional again.
The touring officials came face-to-face with the derelict at Rufaro as they toured the changing rooms, ablution facilities and the VIP parking area that has been turned into an illegal open market and a parking area for traders’ vehicles.
Rufaro has been out of use for the last three years while Gwanzura is in serious state of ruin due to neglect. The two stadiums have degenerated to unacceptable levels despite the numerous promises to provide a facelift in the last 10 years.
The Harare City Council has failed in the mandate to maintain the facilities due to corruption and maladministration in the council.
Mafume yesterday made fresh promises that the two stadiums will host top-flight football in March 2023 when the new season begins.
Some of the work that must be done at Rufaro before top-flight matches are hosted there include the construction of changing rooms, installation of irrigation equipment on the pitch, refurbishment of toilets, repair of exit gates, upgrading of turnstiles, construction of the access to the disability, construction of a palisade perimeter wall, paving of the car park and tarring of all pathways.
Mafume said a report will be made and pushed into the next council meeting.
The tour follows the meeting held last Friday between Mafume and senior council officials and the PSL led by chairman Farai Jere and Chief Executive Officer Kenny Ndebele.
Mafume promised that the two grounds will be operational by March and that he will attend the first game to be played at either Rufaro or Gwanzura.
But how plausible can this be given the history of the several promises and lies? Can the renovations be done in under three months when the City watched the grounds deteriorate to unacceptable levels in the last 10 years because of corruption and “lack of funds”?
“We need our stadiums to be homologated,” said Mafume after meeting the PSL delegation.
“So, we want to assure the residents that both Rufaro and Gwanzura will be homologated to the satisfaction of the PSL. We hope also that our common sponsors and businesspeople will, with no strings attached, assist the city to bring these things back to shape.
“But as a city, we have committed in our budget and in our process to make sure that these stadiums will bring revenue to the city.
“Come March 2023, the stadiums will be playable, they will be in shape, they will be safe, they will bring comfort to the players, safe for the spectators and stadiums that the nation can be proud of. We believe that these are simple things for us to do and finish. Other countries are building stadiums out of containers and so forth in short spaces of time. So surely, we will give our workers the necessary marching orders to ensure that the stadium is in tip-top condition,” said Mafume.
Local Premiership clubs have been clamouring for the return of Rufaro, which was banned from hosting top-flight games in 2019 after it was deemed unfit by authorities. Gwanzura has been in a worse state and has been out of use for longer. The Council recently came under fire from the residents following the collapse of a proposed lease agreement for the Rufaro facelift with Sakunda Holdings.
The company had undertaken to revamp the stadium and its vicinity, to meet world-class standards, on a budget of US$5 million.
ZIFA were also not amused. But on Friday, Mafume hosted the PSL leadership and made fresh promises.
“The issue for this meeting has been to look at how we can have the minimum standards for Rufaro and Gwanzura stadiums to start operating. “You will recall a few weeks ago, as the City Council, we indicated that we are in a position, and we are willing to partner with citizens on the issue of the two historic grounds.”
City architect Chirombo told The Herald that they will carry out the work in phases so that football can be played after the implementation of the first stage of the project.
“Rufaro refurbishment programme it was mainly focusing on modernising, focusing on new changing rooms that meet the CAF and FIFA standards for international matches. We are also looking at modern ablution facilities for both spectators and players, the installation of a new tribune and modern Wi-Fi facilities.
“We wanted to improve the security of the place but also the playing surface the turf is below standard,” said Chirombo.
He said they have been criticised for overlooking the accessibility of the physically challenged into the stadium and are going to address that as well.
Admittedly, Chirombo said all the renovations cannot be done before the next season commences and will be implemented in phases.
“It is our target so that we start playing local football, we will have the basics under phase one and then can do the rest later on,” said Chirombo.
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