The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Reporter
IN the midst of celebrating the imminent Premiership derby for Manicaland, folks in the province are pondering whether Sakubva Stadium will be play host to the epic encounter in the provincial football history.
Far from the recent Premiership promotion of Tenax FC and the exciting survival of Manica Diamonds FC, sports-related social media groups around Manicaland have participants debating on the possibility of Sakubva Stadium hosting the province’s very first top-flight league derby.
In fact, a WhatsApp group named “Build Sakubva Stadium”, with prominent personalities in the province and some resident elsewhere but trace their roots to the province, has since been set up and emotions are running high on that social media platform as participants voice their concerns over seemingly endless Sakubva Stadium renovations now dragging close to two years.
Different suggestions on the way forward have been proffered on that platform with others opining that the local authority must be more serious in their approach.
Munyaradzi Zinomwe said: “Mutare City Council has badly let the Manicaland soccer community down with the snail’s pace of renovations at Sakubva Stadium. Surely, more needs to be done to expedite the works being undertaken to renovate Sakubva Stadium. Rusape town has benefited from hosting Premier League games at the expense of Mutare.
“Mutare-based teams suffer massive losses due to the high costs of travelling and camping away from home. With high fuel costs, attendance are going down at Vengere Stadium.
“Council should undertake aggressive fund-raising activities to mobilise resources to complete renovations in time before the 2020 season commences. With the promotion of Tenax Manicaland awaits to witness the real Mutare derby at Sakubva.”
Zifa Eastern Region vice chairperson Simba Wisdom added his voice: “I think the city fathers should advise the general public of what they have so far have in terms of resources so that people know when and what to chip on with. People are willing to give a hand but they can’t otherwise everyone ends up contributing cement yet there are other materials needed. There are other areas which do not require money, for example turf. I think they should work more onthe turf, making use of this rain season.”
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe and former Mutare Polytechnic lecturer Tendai Tagara said: “If the city fathers are to be remembered by the sporting fraternity, they must prioritise Sakubva Stadium as the home of soccer, athletics, cycling, boxing, and netball and even performing arts.”
Seasoned Mutare football administrator Benjamin Chindima weighed in: “It is time to put our heads together, put our differences aside and find each other so that the stadium renovations can be completed. The moment we continue to fold our hands and continue to blame each other we won’t be neglecting just the sports personalities around Manicaland but we will be destroying the future of our kids and history will judge us harshly as the generation that saw the demise of one of the beautiful stadiums in the country.”
