Statement regarding the award of host city status of the 2014 ZONE VI Games to Bulawayo

I have noted that the Herald and Chronicle have published a story today regarding what President Mugabe is reported to have said at the launch of the ZONE VI Games yesterday at State House in Harare.

The Herald includes the following statement:

“President Mugabe said even former Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart had attempted to move from Bulawayo to Harare citing shortages of funds”.

Whether President Mugabe actually said that I do not know but if he has been correctly reported his memory on this issue is faulty.

The facts of the matters are as follows. When Zimbabwe was awarded the 2014 ZONE VI Games we had to choose the host city. From the outset I wanted it to be held in Bulawayo and told both my Ministry and the ZONE VI secretariat. However we had to go through the bureaucratic processes within the Ministry before coming to Cabinet with a recommendation. When the first draft report was produced by my subordinates a recommendation was made by them to hold the Games in Harare purely on the grounds that only Harare had a big enough existing Games Village (the University of Zimbabwe). I was dissatisfied with the report and ordered that a better comparative analysis be done, in particular to assess what “legacy benefits/investment” could accrue to a Host City from the games. In particular I asked that they focus on the National University of Science and Technology’s (NUST) shortage of accommodation and the argument that if we built residences that would not only serve the purpose of the games but would be of long lasting benefit to NUST. At the time, indeed still now, NUST only had accommodation for some 139 students and has a housing backlog for over 4000 students. A second report was done but the overwhelming sentiment of the civil servants in my Ministry was still to hold the Games in Harare. The cost of constructing the 4 residences needed at NUST was going to cost in excess of US$40 million, raising the total cost of the Games to some US$64 million.

When the matter came up in Cabinet I had the difficulty of overcoming the fact that the Games would cost far less to be held in Harare and that the bulk of my Ministry and even Cabinet members were against it being held in Bulawayo. I argued against the technical report and said that we should consider the legacy aspect of the Games. I pointed out that for the 2012 Olympic Games the British Government had deliberately chosen a disadvantaged part of London for the Olympic Park so it could uplift the entire area in future, well after the conclusion of the Games. I cited other examples such as the cost of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the cost of which could not be justified on purely financial grounds. Sadly a majority of Cabinet did not agree with me and indeed when the matter came before Cabinet on the 21st May 2013 a senior ZANU PF member of Cabinet called me outside to suggest that we agree on the Games being held in Harare and that a commitment be made to build the residences at NUST in due course. I disagreed and said we needed to be bold and argue for both.

When the matter came for final discussion it appeared as if I was losing the battle to have it allocated to Bulawayo and in all fairness to President Mugabe his intervention was critical. After arguing the case for Bulawayo it was clear to me that I was losing the argument because an overwhelming majority were against it coming to Bulawayo, including certain heavyweights, and I assumed that it was a lost cause. I said as much and it was then that President Mugabe intervened for the first time saying that I needed to be bolder in advancing my argument and that he agreed it should be held in Bulawayo. The moment he disclosed his hand all the opposition coming from a few ZANU PF heavyweights evaporated and a final decision was made to hold it in Bulawayo.

So whilst it is true that President Mugabe supported me, and that his intervention was critical in getting the Games to Bulawayo, it is incorrect that I ever attempted to move them from Bulawayo to Harare. As I have said above no decision had been made yet about where they were to be held in the course of the debate, and I consistently argued for Bulawayo and never asked that they be moved to Harare. In this regard I think my record for the last 31 years, since I moved to Bulawayo, has been consistent – I have always tried to argue for the advancement of Bulawayo and have succeeded in sporting terms with the refurbishment of Khumalo Hockey Stadium and, now, in the allocation of the Zone VI Games. Anyone who knows me well understands my absolute commitment to my home city where I have lived since 1961.

I am not surprised to learn from President Mugabe’s statement yesterday that after I left Ministry there were some who tried again to get the Games moved to Harare. No doubt this was a case put forward by those who had opposed me on this issue from the beginning and who thought that once I was out of office it would be easy to roll Cabinet over on the matter. In this regard I am obviously pleased and grateful that President Mugabe maintained his support for the Games to be held in Bulawayo.

I have been following the reconstruction/construction of the various facilities with keen interest since leaving office. I am sad to note that the construction of residences at NUST has not taken place, presumably due to cash constraints, but pleased to note that all the residences at Hillside Teachers College are being renovated and two small residences are scheduled to be built there to cater for the extra athletes who cannot be accommodated in the existing residences. The Games village will now be at Hillside Teachers College.

Bulawayo citizens will be pleased to hear that work is being done at a variety of sports venues. I recently visited the Parirenyatwa Street Pool and it is being transformed into a venue which meets international standards. A new warm up pool (which incidentally looks as if it will be ideal for water polo) has been constructed at the east end of the existing pool. The pools will be surrounded by 30 meter high floodlights and the main pool will be equipped with state of the art timing equipment. Four tennis courts are being resurfaced at BAC to international standards. Barbourfields and Luveve football grounds are being rehabilitated; new change rooms are being constructed and both will have new floodlighting. White City is being totally transformed. The original proposal was to rehabilitate the tartan track at NUST but a decision has been made to build a brand new tartan track at White City Stadium; in addition new change rooms and other facilities are being built there. Other sports such as basketball will be held at the Trade Fair and some facilities there will be upgraded.

So all in all I am delighted that my original vision to have the ZONE VI Games held in Bulawayo is now becoming a reality. The Games start on Friday the 5th December 2014 and I hope the Bulawayo Public turn out in their thousands to support them. This is truly the biggest sporting event Bulawayo has ever hosted and now that we will have the best sports facilities in the country my hope is that Bulawayo will become the sporting capital of Zimbabwe, with the ability to host many more events like this in future. However for that to happen we will need the total support of the Bulawayo public to ensure that all the athletes and their supporters who come have a memorable experience.