City of Harare’s mayor, Councillor Jacob Mafume, has expressed concern over the state of sporting facilities in the capital, with most of them in a sorry state.
Harare City Council owns several sporting facilities that include Rufaro Stadium, Gwanzura Stadium, the City Sports Centre, swimming pools, halls and other grounds which are all in need of urgent attention.
Addressing an Education, Health, Housing and Community Services and Licensing meeting, Mafume said the state of stadia and poor customer care impact negatively the local authority economy. He said:
We need to be serious as council and do the basics. Let us give a service that we parrot about and not just watch things collapse in the manner it has happened.
We are a city that must lead but with poor customer care, we scare away those giving us business.
Surely, we can do better than this. For now, let us not worry about world-class city status but worry about fixing these fundamentals.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN OVER THE STATE OF OUR SPORTING FACILITIES.
YOU ARE ONE OUT OFF TEN GOOD CONCERN BUT SOME OF YOU ARE LETTING PEOPLE BUILDING HOUSES ON THE SPORTING GROUNDS, Eg MARAPURA GROUND,AREA H GROUND AND No.1 GROUND IN MUFAKOSE THE COUNCILLOR IS JUST LOOKING DOING NOTHING
Way, way too late for fixing. Its the same old culture that exists all over Africa: culture of ignoring infrastructure upkeep. Never knowing the consequences of your actions/inactions.