Tagwirei’s Rufaro dream shattered

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

IN the centre of Harare’s sprawling suburb of Mbare sits Rufaro Stadium, a coliseum that towers above all other sporting facilities in the country because of the historic moments that were created on its field.

This is the stadium that has seen mouth-watering clashes being played there from the days of the maestro George Shaya to the era of Madinda Ndlovu, Moses Chunga, Stanley “Sinyo” Ndunduma and Stix Mutizwa to the epoch of the mercurial Peter Ndlovu.

Mbare on its own was the hotbed of the country’s nationalist politics. It is in Mbare where liberation struggle guerrillas who bombed the Salisbury fuel tanks were sheltered by the patriotic citizens.

It is at Rufaro Stadium where Zimbabwe celebrated her independence on April 18, 1980. The commemorations were attended by the late reggae star Bob Marley.

The colonial masters’ Union Jack fell at Rufaro Stadium with the Zimbabwean flag hoisted.
It is for these among many reasons that Rufaro Stadium’s history needs to be preserved.

Rufaro Stadium was shut down in 2019 as it was deemed unsuitable to host not only international games, but local matches.

Fifa and Caf also went on to condemn all the Zimbabwean stadiums, including Rufaro Stadium, which means that even if the country is to be readmitted to international football, the national teams will play in neighbouring countries.

At the beginning of the year, giant energy company Sakunda Holdings entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the City of Harare to refurbish the iconic Rufaro Stadium and turn it into one of the best sporting facilities in Africa. The MoU enabled Sakunda Holdings to carry out some feasibility studies and come up with comprehensive plans and designs, which are now in the public domain.

According to the artistic impressions, huge infrastructural developments were to be carried out at Rufaro Stadium and the surrounding areas, giving not only the iconic stadium a facelift, but Mbare as well.

Sakunda Holdings, according to designs, were going to convert nearby hostels to schools, build more fields outside the stadium, a hospital as well as a stadium retail, giving Rufaro Stadium a world-class look.

The plan has proved to be abortive with Sakunda Holdings revealing that repeated efforts to submit the feasibility study and proposed designs to the council have hit a brick wall.

Also frustrating Sakunda Holdings out of the deal to make Rufaro Stadium an international facility were false reports that the giant energy company intended to buy the ceremonial home of football.

Sakunda Holdings chief operations officer Mberikwazvo Chitambo rubbished the claims saying: “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.”

Sakunda Holdings have been a major player in terms of participating in social responsibility programmes, being heavily involved in fighting Covid-19 and in sport, they partnered with giants

Highlanders and Dynamos who were facing financial challenges that threatened their existence.
As a gesture of their continued goodwill, Sakunda Holdings’ proprietor Kuda Tagwirei complemented

President Mnangagwa’s donation of an assortment of farming implements to Solusi University by donating a 60-seater bus, 10-tonne and four-tonne trucks as well as three tractors.

Now that Sakunda Holdings have been frustrated out of the Rufaro Stadium project, the country’s citizens are the biggest losers. Jobs would have been created during the construction and after completion.

Infrastructure development is one of the key issues highlighted in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the Government’s blueprint released on November 16, 2020.

Now football, the biggest employer in the local sports industry will wait longer to benefit from Rufaro Stadium which remains barred from hosting games because of worn-out structure and poor facilities. — @ZililoR

Article Source: The Chronicle