The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
PROMINENT Mutare businessman, Isau Mupfumi, will be meeting Mutare City Council management early next week with the aim of helping out in the renovations of the Sakubva Stadium which is currently under suspension from hosting the country’s top-flight league matches, Post Sport has learnt.
Sakubva Stadium was banned from hosting Castle Lager Premiership matches and since the start of the season, the Mutare sports facility has been sidelined on the list of match venues that are hosting top-flight league football.
The only Premiership team in Mutare – Manica Diamonds – have played their only home match so far away from home at Gibbo Stadium in Triangle.
The match ended in a goalless stalemate.
However, it is the state of Sakubva Stadium that has left football fans in Mutare dejected as the venue is recurrently suspended from hosting top-flight league matches by the country’s football authorities.
This time around, the stadium was condemned after the grounds inspection committee preliminary visit cited a number of areas that need attention, chief among them the state of the turf.
Mutare City Council – the custodians of the facility – were expected to refurbish the turf, at least to meet minimum acceptable standards and then invite the grounds inspection committee for a final inspection so that the match venue can be allowed to host top flight league matches.
The local authority had other ideas!
From the last interview with this newspaper on that subject, Mutare City Council spokesperson, Spren Mutiwi indicated that they will wait for the tender procedure to secure new lawn, refurbish the drainage system and after that lengthy exercise is complete, they can then invite the grounds inspection committee.
Common sense dictates that such a process will drag for months if not a year, meaning that local football fans will miss out on the 2023 Castle Lager Premiership season.
So far, the Premier Soccer League season is getting into MatchDay Three this weekend.
While ZPC Kariba’s Nyamhunga Stadium, Ngezi Platinum’s Baobab Stadium, Hwange’s Colliery Stadium and Green Fuel FC’s Green Fuel Sport Arena are being currently renovated and highly likely to be given the greenlight to host top-flight league matches, cursed Sakubva Stadium is awaiting the local authority’s lengthy tender processes and subsequent renovation works.
Mupfumi said: “We are scheduled to meet with the Mutare City Council management over Sakubva Stadium. I was made aware that Premiership matches are not being played at the facility simply because it failed to meet the required minimum standards.
“It is against this background that I felt the need to intervene and assist in any way I can, both as a community leader and local businessman. We will walk through this challenge together as a community. We are aware that football has a huge following and more importantly, we have youths who earn a living out of football and we have to consider that.
“We need to give youths in Sakubva and other surrounding areas a platform to showcase their talents. We have the talent to produce more Marvellous Nakambas here in Mutare and together we can do it. We just have to start with ensuring the facilities are up to standard.”
While the local authority duly shoulders the blame for the rundown of a once adorable and lush green playing field, teams that are using the facility also shoulder part of the blame for their reluctance to come to the party to see the renovation of the facility.
Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), financiers of Manica Diamonds, told Post Sport last week through their spokesperson, Sugar Chagonda, that: “It is good to have our own stadium, but for now it is not within our short term plan. There are a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects competing for resources.
“While the company is committed to support the sport and recreation cluster, we have a shared vision with our communities that there are other key areas that need urgent attention. So ZCDC, as a responsible and responsive organisation will prioritise such a facility in the long term plan.”
