The Minister of Sport, Arts, Recreation and Culture Kirsty Coventry, has blamed Finance, Economic Development and lnvestment Promotion Minister, Mthuli Ncube for stalling progress on the National Sports Stadium (NSS) renovations by delaying releasing required funds.
Ncube allocated ZWL$136 billion to the Ministry of Sport in the 2024 national budget, with ZWL$24 billion of that amount specifically for the renovations of the National Sports Stadium.
As reported by OpenParly, Coventry recently told Parliament that her Ministry has done its part and is only waiting for funds from the Treasury. She said:
…there were tenders that went up last year. These tenders were signed and agreed to. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion agreed to release money and yet today we still do not have money.
…I have had numerous conversations, meetings, and letters with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion where the releases have been promised and have yet to date not been released. Hence the contractors that were on site, in January, February, and sometime in March, have now stopped all works until they are paid.
Hon. Speaker, that is the update that I can give until the Ministry receives adequate funding release from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion.
The Ministry’s responsibilities of tendering, upholding tenders, and coming in from a technical expertise, that is open – we now await the releases to ensure that the contractors can fulfil their duties.
The 60,000-seater stadium, which is managed by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) on behalf of the government, is the biggest soccer stadium in Zimbabwe.
However, the giant facility was banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from hosting international football.
As a result, Zimbabwe’s senior national men’s football team, the Warriors, are playing their 2026 FIFA World Cup home qualifiers on foreign soil.
