“Anyone who invades a sporting facility, we will pull down the buildings. The land barons who invaded this place, we pulled down the buildings. People must not invade areas where there are sport facilities, clinics, schools or public facilities. If you build there, we will bring down that building sooner or later,” said the Mayor.
Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume, has warned land barons occupying land that is set aside for recreational purposes or other uses such as clinics or sporting facilities to stop forthwith or the law will take its course.
Mafume was speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of a sporting facility in Budiriro at Chimbumu grounds which had been invaded by land barons.
Yesterday I raised the issue of land barons who are invading School sites. In Budiriro more than 4 school sites were invaded and schools in the constituency are now over populated. It is heartbreaking that in some schools a single class can have more than 60 kids.
— Hon. Darlington Chigumbu🇿🇼 (@chigumbu_) April 11, 2024
“Anyone who invades a sporting facility, we will pull down the buildings. The land barons who invaded this place, we pulled down the buildings. People must not invade areas where there are sport facilities, clinics, schools or public facilities. If you build there, we will bring down that building sooner or later,” said the Mayor.
“So people must not test our resolve, not test our determination by building at clinics, schools, sporting facilities. These are no-go areas and therefore people must be guided accordingly,” said Mafume.
Member of Parliament for Budiriro South, Darlington Chigumbu raised alarm when the grounds were invaded, and the local authority acted swiftly.
Chigumbu is the brains behind the sporting facility and has pledged to see it to completion using Community Development Funds (CDF) and the help of Australians who have pledged support.
“I want to use CDF as part of the fund that is going to be used to do all the developments that are needed here, but it’s not enough. So what I’ve done is I’ve tried to put some stakeholders to try and assist us to build this facility,” said Chigumbu.
“Last year I travelled to Australia and I met a lot of Zimbabwean community and other Australian citizens who promised to help us. That’s why today you saw the Australian Embassy coming down this side to also show that there’s a relationship that already exists with some Australian citizens and institutions that are promising to help us achieve this dream we have as a community,” he added.
as the city has been infested by barons, Chigumbu saw it necessary to defend this piece of land to ensure that the constituency gets this facility.
“The reason why we are also doing it here specifically is because this is the only space that we are left with as a community that is designated for a sporting and recreation facility. All other open spaces that we’ve had have been invaded by land barons and others that are still left say that they’re designated for schools or for youth facilities. So this is the only space that we have as Zimbabwe South constituency that is designated specifically for sport and recreation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mafume, added that one of the resolutions of the city was to ensure that sporting facilities are revamped so that idle youths who have been swallowed by substance abuse find a new purpose.
“Yes, we are trying to revitalise sports facilities. We want to promote the youth, we want to fight against drugs, we want to rehabilitate our sporting infrastructure,” said Mafume.
It is not only in Budiriro where a sporting facility is being developed, added Mafume.
“As you know in Mabvuku we are working with the MP there to develop that stadium. Here we are working with the MP for Budiriro South to develop this stadium. We are going to work with other MPs to develop these stadiums and many other stadiums that the youth have to use,” said Mafume.
Honourable Scott Pedzai Sakupwanya has also proposed a home ground for his Premier league team, Scottland FC, to be built in Mabvuku.
Sports play a vital role in promoting social cohesion by bridging cultural divides, fostering teamwork and collaboration, and developing social skills.
Arccoding to the mayor, young talent was dying away because there are no scouting grounds for them in the communities.
“Sport is key, sport is critical, and we should nurture the youth to deal with sporting activities. So, this is a very important event for the city and the community here, that’s why we’ve come,” added Mafume.
