News / Local
Bulawayo Chiefs take over AmaZulu Sports Club
06 Feb 2022 at 01:51hrs | Views
HIGH spenders, Bulawayo Chiefs Football Club has added another milestone to their résumé after they won the bid to take over the running of the former AmaZulu Sports Club in the city.
Chiefs beat a number of high-profile bids including those from former Zimbabwe Electoral Commission commissioner, Dr Qhubani Moyo and a partnership between arts gurus Iyasa, Bulawayo Arts Awards and Beitbridge Festival of the Arts.
AmaZulu Sports Club, formerly Callies Sports Club, is situated in North End along Robert Mugabe Way, next to Hartsfield Rugby Grounds.
It shares borders with Crescent Sports Club, home to Bulawayo City FC, and Khanyisile Sports Centre (formerly Bulawayo Club for the Disabled) and Archers Sports Club.
According to the latest council report, Bulawayo Chiefs made a bid of US$1 500 per month in rentals and while there were other bids in the same range, they edged out their competition on the grounds of a better credit rating. The team submitted a note to prove that they constantly delivered gold to the Fidelity Printers and Refiners.
Other companies and individuals that submitted their bids for the facility were Selfless Investments that offered a bid rental of US$1500, Prince Dube (US$1 000), Iyasa, Bulawayo Arts Awards and Beitbridge Festival of the Arts (US$1 000), Liafos Private Limited and Nabals Football Club (US$1 000), Dr Qhubani Moyo (US$1 500), Real life Medicals (US$2 000), Konera Enterprises (US$1500) and Drewbulle Medical Supplies in partnership with Codre Medical Supplies that made a bid rental of US$1 250.
Contacted for comment, Chiefs' secretary, Dumisani Mantula-Sibanda said while it would be a welcome move if they got the lease, they were still to be furnished with the paperwork by the local authority.
"For now, it will be difficult for us to comment on what we intend for the facility because we are still yet to get the paperwork from the local authority. Further, we will have to sit down as an executive after we receive the paperwork then we can have a clearer picture of the direction which we are taking," said Mantula-Sibanda.
Unlike in the past when Bulawayo City Council leased out AmaZulu Sports Club for a long period, the local authority has decided on short-term five-year leases.
The first time the facility was leased out was in 1961 for a period of 25 years. The second automatic 25-year lease expired in 2011.
In 2012, the council leased out the facility to AmaZulu for 10 years and the agreement was due to expire this year, but it was terminated following a number of breaches, including failure to make lease payments and to maintain the facility.
In 2018, Chicken Inn FC made a failed bid to lease AmaZulu Sports Club.
Chiefs beat a number of high-profile bids including those from former Zimbabwe Electoral Commission commissioner, Dr Qhubani Moyo and a partnership between arts gurus Iyasa, Bulawayo Arts Awards and Beitbridge Festival of the Arts.
AmaZulu Sports Club, formerly Callies Sports Club, is situated in North End along Robert Mugabe Way, next to Hartsfield Rugby Grounds.
It shares borders with Crescent Sports Club, home to Bulawayo City FC, and Khanyisile Sports Centre (formerly Bulawayo Club for the Disabled) and Archers Sports Club.
According to the latest council report, Bulawayo Chiefs made a bid of US$1 500 per month in rentals and while there were other bids in the same range, they edged out their competition on the grounds of a better credit rating. The team submitted a note to prove that they constantly delivered gold to the Fidelity Printers and Refiners.
Other companies and individuals that submitted their bids for the facility were Selfless Investments that offered a bid rental of US$1500, Prince Dube (US$1 000), Iyasa, Bulawayo Arts Awards and Beitbridge Festival of the Arts (US$1 000), Liafos Private Limited and Nabals Football Club (US$1 000), Dr Qhubani Moyo (US$1 500), Real life Medicals (US$2 000), Konera Enterprises (US$1500) and Drewbulle Medical Supplies in partnership with Codre Medical Supplies that made a bid rental of US$1 250.
Contacted for comment, Chiefs' secretary, Dumisani Mantula-Sibanda said while it would be a welcome move if they got the lease, they were still to be furnished with the paperwork by the local authority.
"For now, it will be difficult for us to comment on what we intend for the facility because we are still yet to get the paperwork from the local authority. Further, we will have to sit down as an executive after we receive the paperwork then we can have a clearer picture of the direction which we are taking," said Mantula-Sibanda.
Unlike in the past when Bulawayo City Council leased out AmaZulu Sports Club for a long period, the local authority has decided on short-term five-year leases.
The first time the facility was leased out was in 1961 for a period of 25 years. The second automatic 25-year lease expired in 2011.
In 2012, the council leased out the facility to AmaZulu for 10 years and the agreement was due to expire this year, but it was terminated following a number of breaches, including failure to make lease payments and to maintain the facility.
In 2018, Chicken Inn FC made a failed bid to lease AmaZulu Sports Club.
Source - The Sunday News
