George Maponga

Masvingo Bureau

MASVINGO-BASED football club, Ancient City FC, has hailed President Mnangagwa for decentralising hosting of national events with Rutenga Growth Point in Mwenezi set to host the country’s 47th independence anniversary national celebrations in April next year.

Known by their moniker,”Boys dzaMudhara,” Ancient City FC is speaheading various empowerment initiatives to improve lives of young people across Masvingo province in line with President Mnangagw’s ,”Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo” philosophy.

The club hailed President Mnangagwa for taking national programmes like Uhuru celebrations to places like Rutenga Growth Point.

Boys DzaMudhara chief executive Tafara Pande said the President was a visionary who deserved to remain in office even beyond 2030.

“We have a visionary in the cockpit and we are blessed as a country to have a leader like President Mnangagwa because who would have thought that a place like Rutenga could host national independence celebrations,” said Pande.

“Rutenga will never be the same again and the President deserves to be applauded for his vision because after this(Uhuru national celebrations next year) Rutenga will never be the same again.”

According to Pande the sprawling growth point was already witnessing increased investment ahead of next year’s national independence celebrations.

This was creating both direct and indirect jobs in fulfillment of the vision to make Zimbabwe an upper middle-income economy.

“The President is indeed walking the talk on his mantra of leaving no one and no place behind because Rutenga will be left with world-class sports infrastructure and other developments such as roads that will be set up to ready the growth point for the national event.”

Pande noted that Masvingo could not ask for more after the province also hosted the Sanganai/Hlanganani Dzimbahwe World Tourism Expo that ran at Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre from 9 to 12 September.

He appealed to Masvingo City Council to complement what President Mnangagwa and his government is doing by upgrading Mucheke Stadium.

Mucheke was a traditional home of football that has been neglected for years, rendering the facility unfit to host local premiership matches.

Pande said upgrading the stadium will spur local football teams like Boys DzaMudhara and Masvingo United to up their game in search of a dance in the top-tier football league.