Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
HE arrived in grand style, the sleek Range Rover was a powerful statement on its own, a big car for the big occasion.
The cameras were there to capture the golden moment when the domestic Premiership reunited with its Prince Charming once more.
When the Range Rover, a very popular car among elite footballers making millions of dollars in Europe, came to a halt, a passenger emerged from the back seat.
Prince Dube, also known as Mgadafi, was in town.
Even the natural elements appeared to have embraced the occasion and, on what was supposed to be a winter’s day, there was bright sunshine to welcome him.
The Prince was in Kwekwe, which will be his new home – a thriving Midlands city whose local economy has been transformed by the rich gold deposits in its belly.
The way Hardrock conducted the whole signing ceremony was top class, the kind of stuff we regularly see being done by top European clubs, a powerful demonstration that they want to do things differently and professionally.
You don’t need to be a Hardrock fan to appreciate that this was a pretty good job, never mind that it was also pretty good business as well, not only for the club, in particular, but for the PSL in general.
After a difficult week in which controversy, and negativity, appeared to be the password for everything to do with the PSL, this feel-good story about the Prince returning home, changed the script.
It showed beyond the conspiracy theories, and all the obsession with negativity, there is actually excellent work being done to add value to our top-flight league and to take it to another level.
And, this is what lured the Prince to return home, swapping a club like Yanga, who have been ranked among the top 10 clubs in Africa, for a small, but ambitious club in the Midlands, who are only playing in the domestic Premiership for the first time.
Swapping Dar es Salaam for Kwekwe.
With a population of about 136 000 people, Kwekwe is a paradise of tranquillity when compared to the madness of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, which used to be his adopted home.
The population of Dar es Salaam is estimated to be 5,85 million, but when one also considers its wider metropolitan area, then you have 8,98 million people living in this metropolis.
This is the mega city which Prince Dube used to call home, for the past six years, since he arrived in August 2020 to sign for Azam.
By the time he left last week, Prince was playing for Young Africans, the most decorated team in Tanzania.
His last assignment was delivering a 31st league championship for Yanga and its huge army of fans, who are known as Wananchi who, by conservative estimates, number more than 35 million.
Now, he has chosen a club with just one piece of silverware in their cabinet, the ZIFA Central Region Division One trophy, which they won amid accusations and counter accusations last year, in what was a bitter feud with Sheasham.
This is huge.
THE PRINCE BOUGHT INTO THE DREAM
Prince, and his advisors, bought into the Hardrock project, they were not seduced by the present, but they were wooed by the future which, when they look at what is happening in our PSL, looks promising.
They know Hardrock are minnows, even in Zimbabwe football terms, while Yanga are giants, not only in terms of Tanzanian football, but in terms of African football.
But, Hardrock, who were not even in existence eight years ago, have managed to sell Prince a dream and he has absolutely no reason to doubt them because, already, there is a lot of evidence to back that up.
When he arrived in Kwekwe, he was shown the most beautiful stadium in this country today and was told that it was built by the man who has committed to paying his salary for the next two years.
He probably remembered that, for all the success that Young Africans have had, and for all their massive size, not only in Tanzania, but throughout East Africa, and for all their popularity, they don’t have their own stadium.
This is a club that has been in existence for 91 years, from their establishment in 1935, but they don’t have a stadium which they can call their own and they play their games at the 60 000-seater Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, which is owned by the government.
Yanga have partnered the GSM Group of companies to build their own 20 000-seater stadium, but construction work hasn’t started yet and it will be another two years or so before it starts hosting matches.
Now, for the Prince, the mere fact that Shepherd Magodora Chahwanda, the businessman who owns Hardrock, has already completed building a modern stadium, in the seven years he has been in the game, something which Yanga haven’t done in 91 years, was crucial in influencing his decision.
If someone had told us, three years ago, that our PSL – which was then a dying league which was on a life-support system – would be able to lure a player like Prince back into its ranks, we would have dismissed him as a madman.
The kind of fellow who goes to the heart of the Sahara Desert expecting to enjoy a white Christmas blessed with snow.
But, here we are now, and the transformation of our PSL has been absolutely mind-blowing and now, the likes of Washington Arubi and Gerald Takwara, even find it appealing for them to ply their trade back home.
This week alone, we have seen a number of Malawians, guys from Eswatini, Botswana, DRC, being unveiled in the domestic Premiership and this is just the start of what is set to be a mad rush for foreign talent this month.
We are being told that even a big fish like Namibian goal-scoring machine Peter Shalulile could also be on his way to the domestic Premiership which, if it comes to pass, will be the league’s biggest catch.
Maybe, we should have read the signs when the likes of Knowledge Musona decided last year that the domestic Premiership now had the right conditions for someone like him to come and play at home.
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR BOSSO, DEMBARE
Watching the Prince complete his signing for Hardrock, and the professional way the business was conducted, I really felt for the country’s biggest football clubs – Dynamos and Highlanders.
A part of me cried for these two giants, who are the heart and soul of our football, who appear trapped on an island, which they used to dominate, but where things are changing faster than they can handle.
In the week that Hardrock were flexing their financial muscle, by bringing in Prince Due, the Bosso CEO, Denzel Mnkandla, was revealing that he hasn’t been paid for the last three months.
Back in the days when Bosso and DeMbare were the clubs of choice for our footballers, this was the week that Mnkandla was supposed to be smiling for the cameras as Highlanders unveiled the return of Prince Dube to his old club.
Mnkandla’s signature should have been on the documents, which Prince Dube had signed, to complete his return to his mother club.
But, instead, Mnkandla’s signature was on a protest letter, which he wrote to his employers, reminding them that he hasn’t been paid for the last three months and he was now incapacitated to report for duty.
Emmanuel Jalai returned to the domestic Premiership, on a short loan spell, but instead of returning to his mother club, Dynamos, he announced that he will be playing for champions Scottland.
There will be some anger among some DeMbare and Bosso fans that Prince and Jalai chose these rich newboys instead of their mother clubs.
But, that anger is misplaced because the reality is that these two giants cannot afford these two players, without blowing up their payrolls and, in Bosso’s case, they are even struggling to play those who are already on their payroll.
The game has changed and what Bosso and DeMbare need are huge partners, and serious financial injections into their coffers, for them to start competing with these ambitious newboys for quality players again.
That’s why I supported Dynamos’ partnership with AfricaBet, despite all the negativity that some people tried to attach to this deal, because it resembles a giant step in the right direction.
The mere presence of AfricaBet at DeMbare has the capacity to lure another company into the Glamour Boys fold because that’s the way the market works.
There is a CEO out there who must be telling himself that if Brian Makwabarara, the AfricaBet CEO who is a respected man in our business community, is finding value in partnering Dynamos, then there must be some value worth pursuing there, too.
This is what we need to encourage, especially when it comes to our traditional big clubs, rather than just being merchants of negativity who are on a crusade to destroy the profile of our domestic Premiership.
To God Be The Glory
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!
Antoniooooooooooooo!
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