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Lovemore Kadzura Sports Correspondent
RUSAPE Town Council have begun rehabilitating its collapsed and dysfunctional sports facilities, some of which were shut decades ago due to the local authority’s failure to prioritise sport and recreation centres.

About $48 000 has since been set aside for the initiative.

Rusape, just like most urban councils, has in the past years paid a blind eye to its sports infrastructure.

Most of the infrastructure has been vandalised.

In Rusape, the once iconic and prestigious Makoni Country Club, which virtually housed all sports disciplines such as golf, tennis, football, rugby and cricket grounds, among many others, shut down in 2009.

Just like in Chipinge, the council also allocated some residential stands on the golf course.

Acting town secretary Solomon Gabaza said his council was now prioritising sport development.

Gabaza also said the visit by the Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane three months ago exposed the rot in the town.

“The tour of our sports facilities by Minister Hlongwane exposed our shortcomings when it comes to our resource allocation to sports and recreation.

“All our sports facilities were deemed to be deplorable, save for Vengere Stadium.

“The stadium meets Premier Soccer League minimum requirements after extensive renovations in 2015, when it was the home ground of Dongo Sawmills.

“Right now it is the home ground for Buffaloes, which is playing in Eastern Region Division One.

“For the swimming bath, which was closed decades ago, we have set aside $28 000 for its resuscitation and we have advertised the tender,” said Gabaza.

“Currently, negotiations are underway with the key stakeholders in sport on how best we can resuscitate the Makoni Country Club. Council is concerned with the state of the club and we want to take it back to its famous glory days.

“We have budgeted $10 000 for the country club.

“For the swimming bath, which was closed decades ago, we have set aside $28 000 for its resuscitation and we have advertised the tender.

“The bath is a super structure but has just been let to lie idle. We want our residents to swim in a proper and standard pool, not for them to go to nearby rivers and dams which is risky.

“In Vengere high density, we want to upgrade our facilities to be all-weather courts. There are netball, basketball, volleyball, tennis and handball courts. Excavation of the grounds has since started.

“The budget there is $10 000. We want our residents to fully benefit from these facilities as we appreciate that besides recreation, sport is now a source of livelihood,” said Gabaza.