The Sunday Mail
Mehluli Sibanda in Bulawayo
VUNGU legislator Omega Sibanda has waded into the debate over Zimbabwe’s stadium crisis and wants Parliament to pursue a forensic audit of over the US$1 million he alleges was made available by Government in 2014 for sprucing up the venues for the Africa Union Council Region 5 Games in Bulawayo.
The former ZIFA vice-president also slammed the domestic game’s leadership for what he termed “lack of good public relations’’ with continental body CAF and the Bulawayo City Council over improvements needed to be done on Barbourfields and other venues.
Sibanda said Bulawayo lost an opportunity to have its three main stadiums — Barbourfields, Luveve and White City — renovated when the country hosted the African Union Sports Council Region Five Games.
The Government availed funds for the sporting facilities, including the three stadiums to get a major facelift.
What disappoints Sibanda is that respected football people were involved and were meant to provide guidance of renovations that were meant to be carried out.
Instead, shoddy jobs were done at the three stadiums.“Huge monies were pumped into this AUSC Region Five LOC for the purposes of renovating sporting facilities in the City of Kings. They had a template of what was required, football people were involved. They engaged people who did substandard work at these stadiums, they did not use any template.
“Money which was pumped in there was enough to fix the things that CAF had asked to be fixed,’’ Sibanda said.
Sibanda said a forensic audit before Parliament details that there was massive looting of funds with over US$1 million spent on allowances for officials while renovations to facilities were not completed.
“This is a shame, everything of it lacks respect and this is not football, this is sloppy administration. The National Sports Stadium was condemned 20 years ago. Barbourfields was always condemned, so was Rufaro. We were playing all these matches at our venues because we had ZIFA presidents who had good PR, they knew who to speak to,’’ Sibanda said.
Sibanda said ZIFA used to enjoy cordial relations which helped in securing some grace periods to fix things over the years and suggested that the same could have been extended without CAF banning use of Barbourfields for the Warriors against Algeria tie on March 31.
It has also emerged that ZIFA are to file another plea with CAF to reconsider their position on the ban.
“This doesn’t mean CAF instructors were not coming to Zimbabwe, they assumed that the stadiums would be fixed. Just how was Mandava constructed without a FIFA template when the guidelines for a stadium are there?”
Condemnation of local facilities has not only come from CAF but even ZIFA’s own First Instance Body have over the years said the facilities did not meet set standards.
“With FIFA club licensing a committee called First Instance Body was introduced, that committee was a grounds committee, it was making sure that club licensing was introduced.
“All stadiums in the country were condemned by that committee in 2016 because they were using a template, the stadiums were not using the required standards. They were meant to comply with club licensing, only Highlanders were in compliance,’’ Sibanda said. Even furniture that was meant to be part of the legacy for hosting the AUSC Region Five Games was moved away from Bulawayo, with most of it taken to Harare.
“When the AUSC Region Five Games were finished, all the three stadiums were fully furnished, there was a lot of furniture was left, the same things that CAF are asking for.
“Bulawayo City Council has always been supportive 100 percent, they have not been given the full requirements, they are given information in bits and pieces.”
When we hosted Cosafa in 2017, the three stadiums in Bulawayo were condemned. White City Stadium was condemned outright, Luveve and Barbourfields were condemned.
“BCC poured their money, Luveve Stadium floodlights were lit. PSL were angry about closing of stadiums, the city council came in handy at that time,’’ he said.
He pointed out that when the National Sports Stadium and Mandava were barred from hosting matches, these fixtures were brought to Barbourfields when in fact the same facility had faced scrutiny in the past.
“When CAF said National Sports Stadium, Mandava and Gibbo could not host matches, these matches were taken to Barbourfields, it seems people had forgotten that Barbourfields had also been condemned before. We should use PR in view of the economic situation in the country, they should have not had waited for the last minute.,’’ said Sibanda.
