Chronicle Editor
Flora Fadzai Sibanda
IN a bid to fight against drug and substance abuse aspiring ward 13 councillor, Zanu PF’s Cde Ganizani Phiri, is sponsoring weekly soccer tournaments in his ward.
The soccer matches have been ongoing for the past month to ensure youths have something to do instead of spending their days on the streets abusing drugs.
Cde Phiri said, to make the tournament more competitive and interesting, he divided the ward into two parts.
The teams that partake in the games include Amayellow FC, Indola Stars FC, Pelandaba Legends FC, and Timers FC.
Upon finishing the tournament prizes like soccer balls and soccer kits are expected to be won alongside a trophy which will be given to the conquering team.
Last week, more than 500 residents came to watch the game with most people cheering on Indola Stars FC which won the tournament.
Cde Phiri said he is happy with the turnout that he is getting from the community members especially youths who are showing interest in playing the games and coming to watch even if they do not qualify for the teams.
“It is very important that we address the issue of drug and substance abuse among our youth, because as long as we still have this problem then we might as well forget about having a future for our country because we are going to lose all the youths to this menace. Because we understand that not all youths are interested in doing sports that is why we have also introduced entrepreneurship courses that are meant to help those remaining youths to stay away from drug and substance abuse,” he said.
Cde Phiri said he is working towards building the youths from his ward so that in the next five years they will not question his eligibility to lead them because they would have seen his work.
The aspiring member of parliament for Tshabalala Pelandaba constituency Cde Cecilia Verenga- who was a guest at one of the soccer competitions- said the main aim is to identify different things that youths love so that they can help to develop them.
She said the ruling party is not doing this just to gain votes because even after elections they are still going to be working hand in hand with youth in ensuring that whatever projects they are doing do not end up dying.
Cde Verenga said by giving youths hands-on projects, they will not think about abusing drugs as they will have something to do in their spare time.
The next match is going to be played this Sunday at the Nkulumane Library Grounds.
This is not the only project that Cde Phiri has been doing as he has been offering free lessons on different short courses and has been hosting shows which are meant to help unleash the talent that is within young people in his ward. @flora_sibanda
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