City of Harare to erect statue of the legendary George Shaya at Rufaro Stadium

The Harare City Council (HCC) are said to have decided to construct the statue of the late legendary footballer George Shaya at Rufaro Stadium in Harare.

Considered Zimbabwe’s all time best player ever with a record five Soccer Star of the Year accolades to his name, Shaya died in August 2021 aged 77.

To honour the great footballer, HCC through Mayor Jacob Mafume said construction of Shaya’s statue at Rufaro will commence this week.

Mafume’s remarks comes after the Mbare based sporting facility is currently under a major revamp to allow it to host top flight league games following its suspension by ZIFA.

“What we want to make Rufaro Stadium a monument of football. It must be a tourist attraction. It must speak; it must tell a story,” he said.

“Rufaro must tell a story of the city. We have seen around the world, people build monuments for what they love, and appreciate in terms of their culture.

“In Zimbabwe, football is part of our culture so we must build monuments of value and meaning. We will have a statue of George Shaya here (Rufaro).

“We will also put names of players, football writers, broadcasters, administrators and other stakeholders who we will be celebrating as we walk towards George Shaya’s statue.”

He also added that council is planning to build a museum and a hotel at the iconic stadium which last hosted Premier Soccer League games in 2019.

“We are also going to build a sports museum besides Shaya’s statue. The construction works for all these will start in three, four days.”

Shaya was also honoured by Sakunda Holdings’ owner Kuda Tagwirei last year (2022) in November.

It was after the business mogul bought a house for the late Shaya’s wife Agnes in Madokero worth US$120,000.