By Correspondent
The Premier Soccer League season is underway and Harare teams have been traveling as far as Bulawayo for home matches.
Rufaro Stadium, the traditional home of local soccer isn’t available after being deemed unsuitable for the league.
This has been despite strenuous efforts by the Jacob Mafume led Harare City Council to remedy the stadium.
“We have the best ground in the country and have offered Caps and Dynamos leases, yet they refuse to approve.
“We have water, electricity, secure parking, best turf etc.
“The teams are eager to sign (but) the problem are the FIB teams being sent by ZIFA.
Premier Soccer League Chairman Farai Jere has also visited Rufaro and given a positive review.
“We can see that there are world standards and things that are happening.
“The turf, you can see is it is world class.
“I can imagine if this grass is cut and is ready for the matches it will be eye-catching,” he said after a recent tour.
Prior Deals and Politics
The implicit charge by Council faction is that politics is now at play after it snubbed Sakunda’s overture to renovate Rufaro.
Sakunda, owned by President Mnangagwa’s close ally Kuda Tagwirei had offered to renovate the stadium but Council refused the deal.
The planned renovation included installing bucket seats, refurbishing the sewer and water reticulation system.
Sakunda had also promised to construct a road to the football venue.
However Sakunda later withdrew after accusing City of Harare of reneging on the signed Memorandum of Understanding.
This was not the first deal which Harare Council had failed to see through.
In 2019 an unnamed private company proposed to the venue a make-over and in return get naming rights.
The then Acting Mayor Stewart Mtizwa even confirmed the deal, which however fell through.
Prior to that, in 2014, Savanna Tobacco offered a similar proposal to Harare Council.
The deal was reportedly set at US$10 million and would have seen Rufaro upgraded to modern standards.
However it failed to take-off again.
The Un-Political Problem
So what is the problem now.
The problem is that ZIFA’s First Instance Board has not yet approved the stadium.
The stadium has been closed since 2019 and has failed a series of inspections despite numerous renovations since 2023.
The renovations done have not satisfied the either Confederation of African Football (CAF) or ZIFA.
In fact the CAF actually recommended that facility be demolished and rebuilt if it is to conform to international standards.
CAF technical development director Raul Chipendo even revealed that the renovations may not be enough.
“Several structural errors and deficiencies could be identified during the inspection visit, which could have been avoided if CAF was consulted from the initial stages of the project.
“As it stands, it is important to underline that there is a high risk that at the end of the ongoing renovation works in Rufaro Stadium, the stadium might fail to comply with the minimum requirements to host some of the CAF competions.
Thus while the Harare City Council can insinuate the presence of an underhand political game, it is yet to deal with the explicit requirements required even by CAF.
The bucket seats are still not there, the toilets are not yet standard and many other structural errors identified by inspectors.