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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
THERE was another twist to the build-up to the Warriors’ opening 2021 AFCON qualifier with the Bulawayo City Council claiming Barbourfields was never booked for the match against Botswana. ZIFA had said the match would be played in the City of Kings but then announced they had shifted it to the National Sports Stadium after failing to get some guarantees from the BCC officials.

The game is set for Friday at 6pm.
However, BCC’s senior public relations officer, Nesisa Mpofu, yesterday said ZIFA never officially booked Barbourfields for the match.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to clarify the issue on the above subject matter and subsequent press release from the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA),’’ Mpofu said.

“Council is not involved in the decision on the venue for the football match nor were we involved in the proposal for the game to be held in Bulawayo.

“The City of Bulawayo did get communication from a representative from ZIFA asking about the floodlights at Barbourfields Stadium and they were duly advised, through a letter after tests, that the lights were in a good working condition.

“Council, however, explained that there was need for ZIFA to further engage the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) taking into consideration the high power outages in the country.

“ZIFA was also advised that, as per norm, applicants intending to use the stadium should pay for floodlights in advance and equally meet the hire costs for the stadium.

“The Barbourfields Stadium is reserved once all the necessary payments have been done. If no payment has been made, council considers that there is no booking of the stadium.’’
Mpofu said had a booking been made, they were ready to ensure the game would be played.

“In the instance of a booking (being) made and payment done, council avails a standby generator that has the capacity to power the floodlights in the case of an electricity outage,’’ Mpofu said.

“In this instance, the issue of the venue switch does not arise as no payments were made nor was there any booking made for the stadium.’’

ZIFA spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela on Tuesday said the decision to move the game was taken by CAF to avoid a floodlighting disaster at Barbourfields.

“We don’t want to be seen to be fighting. But we are surprised with the statement, honestly,’’ said Gwesela.
“We have a letter from their office and what they are saying in their statement and what is in the letter are different.

“What we just did is that we took the letter from BCC to CAF and the authorities at CAF made a decision based on that letter.
“There were no definite guarantees in that letter and we don’t blame them. But CAF don’t take chances.’’

Bulawayo City Council wrote to ZIFA on October 31, in a letter signed by the Director of Housing and Community Services, acknowledging the floodlights had not been tested since 2017 when they hosted the COSAFA women’s tournament.

“We acknowledge receipt of your inquiry pertaining to the use of Barbourfields Stadium for an international match pitting Zimbabwe against Botswana.

“You have gone on to highlight variations that point to the possibility of the match being played under floodlights.
“To this end, we would like to point out that the floodlights have not been used for a long time as they were last used during the women’s COSAFA games in 2017.

“This is also because of the heavy electricity bill that would have to be incurred by the customer. Furthermore, the floodlights are yet to be tested for their conformance to the requisite lux.

“Most of all, Zimbabwe is experiencing unprecedented power outages that would obviously threaten the proceedings of the match.

“In that regard council cannot guarantee uninterrupted power supply,” wrote the BCC in response to ZIFA.