The poor state of the National Sports Stadium has forced government to move Defence Forces Day celebrations to Rufaro Stadium.

This was confirmed on Tuesday during a post-cabinet briefing by Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Dr Jenfan Muswere.

"The Defence Forces Day will be celebrated on the 13th of August at Rufaro Stadium in Harare under the theme, 'Guaranteeing A Conducive Environment For Attainment Of Vision 2030'," he said.

In previous years the celebrations have been held at the National Sports Stadium but the facility has been out of use since September last year when it hosted President Emerson Mnangagwa's inauguration. It has yet to host any public event.

Initially, the stadium's renovations were supposed to be complete before June this year but lack of funds was the biggest setback.

In May, Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Kirsty Coventry told parliament that the Treasury had not released funds needed for the renovations.

However, there seems to be progress as bucket seats which are set to be installed at the giant facility are in transit from China and they are expected in the country in two weeks.

The giant facility's ablution facilities and water reticulation system are currently going through an upgrade as these are some of the areas which need attention for general public gatherings use.