THE Bulawayo City Council has shot down an a application by Grassroot Soccer Zimbabwe for a 49-year lease of a 5,1 hectares piece of land offered to Bulawayo Football For Hope Centre in Luveve. SPORTS REPORTER
The municipality instead extended the five-year lease to 10 years with conditions.
The stand was leased to Grassroot Soccer subject to review at a monthly rental of $20.
Town Lands and Planning Committee resolved: “That the request by Bulawayo Football for Hope Centre in Zimbabwe for extension of the lease period from five to 49 years be not acceded to; but instead the lease be extended to 10 years on condition that a clause to the effect that every five years, development progress on the ground would be evaluated until compliance with the minimum building requirements.”
Fifa and Street Football World are in a joint venture in funding the Bulawayo Football for Hope Centre in conjunction with Grassroot Soccer (Zimbabwe).
The council said Street Football World had written to them requesting for the extension of the lease period from five to 49 years in view of the magnitude of the development they are intending to put up. The organisation argued that the period would give them ample time to recoup their initial investments so as to fund other projects elsewhere.
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The city valuer had recommended that the extension of the lease to 49 years be granted on condition that every five years the development progress had to be evaluated.
After deliberations by the city councillors, deputy mayor Amen Mpofu supported the 10-year lease period for the area.
Grassroot Soccer uses the power of football in the fight against HIV and Aids. In 2011, the organisation, headed by Bantu Rovers president Methembe “Mayor” Ndlovu forged a three-year $300 000 partnership with Barclays Bank aimed at using the power of the sport in the fight against the epidemic in Bulawayo.
The programme, dubbed Skills for Youth, was launched at Mawaba Primary School in Lobengula.