From Huye To Orlando; Mahere Accuses Coventry Of Lying About Stadium Situation
Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere has accused the Minister of Sport, Arts, Recreation and Culture Kirsty Coventry, of misleading the nation about the progress the Government has made in renovating the National Sports Stadium (NSS).
This comes after the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) announced that the Zimbabwe national team (The Warriors) will host Lesotho at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa in their FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier on 07 June.
The decision to use Orlando Stadium as the Warriors’ home turf comes a few months after the Warriors used Huye Stadium in Rwanda as their home ground when they played Nigeria in another World Cup qualifier.
Zimbabwe currently has no stadium to host international matches after the National Sports Stadium in Harare was condemned by the CAF as unfit to host the matches.
In February this year, Coventry told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that the National Sports Stadium would be ready for the June World Cup qualifiers. She said:
I do believe our next game is in June and we had set the target of April, so if it’s June, it gives us a little bit of leeway but I expect that things are done and CAF is back to Zimbabwe to visit before April.
Those are the time-lines I can share with you right now because I am bound by the MoUs I signed and I have to be as respectful as I can to those private companies that have come forward to offer financial assistance.
Following ZIFA’s announcement that the Warriors will play their next home game in South Africa, Mahere took to X to express her disappointment in Coventry, saying the latter continues to mislead the nation about the progress of renovations at the National Sports Stadium. Said Mahere:
As far back as February 2020, Minister Kirsty Coventry lied to the nation that she had the stadium refurbishment under control and that she was on it.
When we expressed our scepticism, the honourable Minister called it “nonsense.” In September 2020, Minister Coventry lied that the “refurbishments” they’d “done” would be approved by CAF. They weren’t.
In 2022, the honourable Minister lied that a South African company had been engaged to refurbish the national stadium. To date, the national stadium remains condemned.
Meanwhile, the Warriors will play Bafana Bafana of South Africa at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on 11 June, four days after hosting Lesotho in Johannesburg.
More: Pindula News
