CITY of Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said that council would not enter into parasitic contracts with local business people after Sakunda Holdings pulled out of the Rufaro refurbishment project.
Many had hoped for a facelift to the spiritual home of Zimbabwe football, which is an eyesore. However, the project had stalled at the boardroom level, with the rumour mill going into overdrive with each passing day until today when Sakunda Holdings dropped the bombshell of their withdrawal.
In their notification of pulling out of the project through a press release, Sakunda Holdings Chief Operating Officer Charles Chitambo accused the Mayor’s office and City of Harare of politicising the issue and dealing in bad faith.
“We write to express our gravest misgivings on the unfortunate events and communications emanating from your office,” wrote Chitambo.
“We are shocked and disturbed by untruthful and malicious allegations that Sakunda intends to purchase Rufaro Stadium, which is a public asset.”
Chitambo said that the petroleum giant had no intention of buying Rufaro Stadium but was only interested in modernising the football facility.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, and we believe you know that. These unfounded allegations are grounded on malice and a coordinated attempt to curtail our efforts to contribute to the revival and modernisation of public infrastructure,” read the letter.
“We wish to place it on record again that Sakunda did not have any commercial interests in this project, suffice to say that our participation in the same was entirely philanthropic for the public good. Consequently, we would like to notify you of our immediate withdrawal from the partnership.”
In response to Sakunda’s press release, Mayor Mafume was not taking any prisoners. He counter-argued that the proposed working parameters did not warrant an extended lease agreement for the fuel company.
“I have no idea what Sakunda is saying. What I understand is that they wanted to get the stadium for 30 years for providing plastic chairs,” responded Mafume.
Mayor Mafume was not amused by Sakunda’s negation tactics of pulling out when certain decisions do not go their way and, in his cheeky way, continued to refer to bucket seats as plastic seats.
“We were in the middle of negotiating that surely a whole stadium would go just after someone donates plastic chairs,” said Mafume.
“They then went into a tantrum-throwing away the baby with the bath water.”
Whilst the city fathers understand that Rufaro stadium needs a facelift, Mayor Mafume is not willing to enter into a commercial agreement that will only benefit business people at the expense of the residents of Harare.
“What is clear to us is that business people had a parasitic relationship with the City of Harare. People come into Harare with nothing; Harare makes them millionaires,” reasoned Mafume.
“When Harare wants assistance, they say Harare give us land and give us that when it’s the city, and it’s people that have contributed to their success.
“Years ago, some of these business people took huge tracts of land after donating bicycles and machinery and claimed vast pieces of land from the city.
“We can’t keep repeating what used to happen in yesteryears. If you want to assist the city as a corporate, fine, but if you want to take from the city after assisting it, surely we should discuss whatever assistance you need to provide in direct and clear terms.”
The Mayor just fell short of saying that more than what Sakunda Holdings provided in the deal was needed to get the 30- year lease agreement. If they wanted naming rights, the contract should be consumerate with world best practices.
“We have not put Rufaro stadium for sale, and anyone who wants naming rights must enter into a contract of naming rights that is recognisable like the ones we see everywhere in the world. Not these that, we end up losing the whole stadium simply because we asked someone to provide plastic chairs and assist us,” he said.
