The ManicaPost
WE have all seen and appreciated the undivided focus that Mutare City Council put in renovating Sakubva Stadium in the past two months.
Even in these economically difficult times, the local authority went out of its way to single-handedly facelift Manicaland’s ceremonial home of football.
As custodians of the facility, Mutare City Council has done its part in ensuring that the stadium is spruced up.
In fact, the improvements made to the facility actually evoke memories of years when the dream of every football playing youngster in the province was to play at Sakubva Stadium.
It is beyond reproach that multitudes of football loving persons in Manicaland had been left a dejected lot, in the past two seasons, as they could not sit on the terraces and watch their teams play at Sakubva Stadium.
Only a privileged few could afford travelling expenses to other towns and cities to watch Premiership football.
The fact that Rusape’s Vengere Stadium had been homologated ahead of Sakubva Stadium naturally became a source of ridicule and scorn for Mutare City Council.
Sakubva Stadium failed to pass the Zifa grounds committee homologation tests two years ago, leading to decision by the local authority to construct a new precast wall around the sports facility as well as spruce up other areas within the stadium.
However, efforts to complete the renovations in a short period were negatively affected by the hyperinflationary environment.
Given the strict procurement procedures within local authorities, Mutare City Council could not cope with the demands to complete the Sakubva Stadium renovations in time.
Construction of the precast wall at Sakubva Stadium resumed two months ago and has since been completed while renovation works to spruce up other areas within the stadium are now at an advanced stage.
The good thing is that the renovation works to spruce up other areas within the stadium such as the perimeter fence, extension of the changing rooms and the media area, among other areas, are not as costly as the task already accomplished.
It is our sincere hope that the powers that be in domestic football administration will give Sakubva Stadium the green light to host top-flight league matches.
If there is anything that we cannot run away from, it is the fact that sport in general and football in particular, world over, is a multi-billion- dollar industry.
Here in Zimbabwe, football has the biggest number of followers than any other sport.
Therefore, Mutare City could not continue to ignore this fact by turning a deaf ear to calls to revamp Sakubva Stadium.
If at all it does not meet the required international standards, as espoused in the Fifa Club Licensing System, at least rewarding the efforts done by Mutare City Council by allowing PSL matches to be played at Sakubva Stadium will be enough motivation to other local authorities to renovate their stadiums.
Now that we have two teams in the country’s top flight league — Manica Diamonds and Tenax FC — football followers across the province are anxiously looking forward to converging almost every weekend on Sakubva Stadium.
There could not have been a better time for the completion of renovations at Sakubva Stadium than this year when Manicaland will witness its first ever Premiership derby.
We also hope that the renovations of sports facilities by the local authority will not start and end with Sakubva Stadium since we have grounds like Sports Oval, tennis and basketball courts that are in dire need of renovations.
In the same breath, this should not always come as a reaction, but rather we need to be proactive and maintain our sports facilities to ensure that they are not banned in future.
Going forward, one sincerely hopes that further upgrading of facilities in the stadium such as the installation of the tartan track for athletics and trendy bucket seats will also be put in place for us to be on the same page with other parts of the globe.
We also hope that football clubs will financially empower themselves to be able chip in with different forms of assistance whenever our facilities need sprucing up.
After all, we are in this together!
