AT first we were made to believe that Rufaro Stadium would be ready for use before the first edition of the Harare derby which came and went on April 15.
Then the tune changed to April 30 and then May 31 but we are in June only to realise that the stadium is as far away as Cape Town by road — from completion.
City of Harare mayor Jacob Mafume laughed off saying he was joking when he gave May 31 as the day the venue would be ready for action.
Surely, the mayor should not play jokes with such matters especially when eight teams are in danger of being thrown out of the National Sports Stadium for among other reasons, overuse of the facility.
In fact, the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League would not have been on suspension had Rufaro Stadium been operational as has been promised over and over again over the past five years or so.
In fact, the mayor should be worried of the revenue that the city is losing through the delay in the completion of the stadium which would have been the home of Dynamos — the most popular football team in the country.
What is clearly evident is that there is no seriousness on the part of the city authorities, otherwise Rufaro Stadium would have been up and running years back.
If it is not seriousness then this is a case of clear incompetence on the part of those on the ground who should be relieved of their duties otherwise we will have to wait for another 10 years for Rufaro Stadium to become active again.
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Surely, how can a city as big as Harare and with all its resources play second fiddle to an individual like Clever Mandaza who resurrected Bata Stadium from the dead and built it to Premiership standards?
Word too is that Nyamhunga in Kariba, Sakubva in Mutare and even Ascot in Gweru are moving faster than Rufaro in as far as renovations are concerned while those at the City of Harare are sitting and watching.
In conclusion, the mayor of Harare should stop playing to the gallery by making promises over and over again but should concentrate on pushing those on the ground to make this Rufaro Stadium dream a reality.
The football fraternity and Zimbabwe at large has waited for too long for the return of Rufaro Stadium and they cannot continue to wait any longer.
Failure is measured by the number of things but it would not be an overstatement to say that the City of Harare has failed the nation in as far as Rufaro Stadium is concerned.
Where is Fifa ?
It is now two months since the Fifa fact-finding mission was in Zimbabwe and up to now Zimbabwe has not heard anything from the international football controlling body with regards to that visit.
This silence could only mean two things, either that the Zimbabwean situation is not all that urgent or that it is so serious that Fifa believes it does not need to be rushed.
All this puts Zimbabwe’s participation in the 2026 World Cup in danger as the draw for the World Cup is getting nearer while at the same time there is no word on Zimbabwe coming from Fifa.
Missing the 2026 World Cup would be the biggest loss Zimbabwe would have made during this period especially with news that Africa will now have nine slots instead of five.
Already, Zimbabwe has lost out on the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations whose qualifiers have already begun on top of other heavy losses, but none of them compares to the World Cup.
The truth is that Zimbabwean football is directionless as it does not have a Zifa leadership to communicate with Fifa after the Gift Banda-led Zifa board was swept away by time.
However, what we were made to believe and still believe is that the Fifa team came to Zimbabwe at the invitation of the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
On that premise, it does not bring any harm for the SRC to make a follow up on Fifa by enquiring how far they have gone with the findings of their visit to Zimbabwe.
The same way they communicated in inviting Fifa is the same way they should make a follow up because the more we keep quiet, the more Fifa forgets about the Zimbabwe situation.
Fifa has 200 members under their umbrella and Zimbabwe are not more special than any of them and we need to put pressure on them to have our situation looked at.
We might not have our destiny in our own hands, but we can surely help to shape it.
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