admin
Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
THE construction of the statue of the legendary late former footballer George “Mastermind” Shaya is set to begin this week at Rufaro Stadium.
The former Dynamos and Warriors star died in August 2021 after a long illness.
But the legacy of arguably the best player to emerge in this country will live on, thanks to the planned erection of his statue at the ceremonial home of football.
The iconic stadium is currently undergoing major redevelopment works that will see the construction of a shopping mall, sports shop and a betting hall among other revenue generating facilities.
Harare City Council, who are the owners of the facility, have decided to add some tourism flair with the erection of Shaya’s statue and a sports museum. Briefing football supporters who toured the venue on Saturday, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said Shaya’s statue will ensure the recognition of not only him but journalists and other stakeholders who have played a significant role in the development of football in this country.
Towards the statue will be a collection of outstanding football stakeholders including journalists’ names who have played key roles for football in the past.
A sports museum that will have artifacts in it will also be part of the collection.
Mafume said the construction works for the statue and the museum will start this week with a ground-breaking ceremony, to be attended by the who is who in football, set to be held at the stadium.
“What we want is to make Rufaro Stadium a monument of football. It must be a tourist attraction,” said Mafume.
“It must speak; it must tell a story. A story of the city. All around the world, people build monuments for what they love, for what they appreciate in terms of their culture.
“Football is part of our culture in Zimbabwe and we must build monuments of value and meaning. “So we will have a statue of George Shaya and towards that statue will be a walk of soccer where we will put the names of players, writers, broadcasters, administrators and other stakeholders who we will be celebrating as we walk towards the statue (of Shaya).
“We are also going to put in place a sports museum besides Shaya’s statue. The construction works for all these will start in three, four days. We are delighted to be involved in development works like what we are doing.
“We will attract tourists in the process”.
While Mafume said Rufaro Stadium, which has not hosted Premiership football since 2019, will be ready for top-flight action by the end of this month, the Shaya statue and museum will be completed in July.
Mafume said a shopping mall, sports shop, shops, international transport rank and a hotel are all part of the wider scope of the renovation and redevelopment works at the facility.
“The whole project will be completed by the end of the year but football will return to Rufaro at the end of this month.
“We are trying to give Rufaro Stadium a major facelift. We will develop a beer garden, a hotel and other utilities to make it a source of revenue for the city.
“By the end of this year, we will have completed everything”.
Friends of Warriors secretary general Zivanai Muwashu said the erection of Shaya’s statue was a welcome development for football. The supporters group said local footballers have not been celebrated enough.
“We have to honour our own football heroes.
“The story of George Shaya shouldn’t be forgotten just because he is dead,” said Muwashu.
“Look, we need to be ourselves. We need to know that once upon a time there was a great man who made football what it is today.
“We need to know how he looked like. The next generation also need to know there was this man who contributed so much for football. So the erection of the statue will be massive for football.
“Also having a sports museum on site to tell our story is welcome”.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter