The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sports, Arts, and Recreation has recommended the construction of a new stadium in Mt Hampden, citing the National Sports Stadium’s aging infrastructure.

Speaking at a pre-budget seminar in Bulawayo on Thursday, the committee’s chairperson, Chamu Chiwanza (ZANU PF), announced that they have already chosen a name for the proposed stadium: Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Stadium. Said Chiwanza (via NewZimbabwe.com):

It is imperative to start to cast light on the state of our nation’s sporting facilities. On the 2024 performance outcome, I spoke about the epidemic which is the stadia.

I propose that the treasury and the minister here should come up with a special fund that ensures that stadiums, particularly the National Sports Stadium can be renovated.

As a committee, we propose that we build a new stadium at the new City and we already have a new name for it and it is called the Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa stadium.

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The National Sports Stadium is old, yes we are doing renovations on it. We put together a sub-committee which was chaired by honourable Jere and went there and realised that 45 percent was complete.

The National Sports Stadium was condemned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 2021 for not meeting the required standards to host international matches.

It was also deemed unsuitable by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) First Instance Body (FIB) for local Premier Soccer League (PSL) games.

Deputy Minister of Sports, Emily Jesaya, said that Treasury has been slow in releasing funds for the stadium’s renovation.

Zimbabwe currently lacks a single CAF-certified stadium. This has forced both the national football team, the Warriors, and clubs participating in CAF competitions to rent venues in neighboring countries like South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia for their home matches.

More: Pindula News