adminRicky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
A CONSORTIUM of businesspeople and the Beitbridge community have set a 30-day plan to raise funds that will enable them to come up with an executive to spearhead the revival of Border Strikers FC.
The border town club which has a rich history in the First Division was suspended from the Zifa Central Region Division One League in 2012 after failing to pay affiliation fees.
On Thursday night, ardent followers of Vavheneki, as Border Strikers were affectionately known, met at Beitbridge District Club and agreed to mobilise membership and funds in the next 30 days which will help steer the ship. Gibson Makhanda, a former Border Strikers player and ex-Premiership Tripple B FC secretary-general who is among the group pushing for the resuscitation of Border Strikers, said they have already cleared the Zifa Central Region debt and were laying the foundation for their return.
“The good thing is that we have cleared what Border Strikers FC owed the Zifa Central Region which was about $2,000 affiliation fees and have already paid about $1,000 which is half of the affiliation fees for our next season return. This is just to show the commitment that revived Border Strikers FC has.”
The Zifa Central Region secretary, Stanley Chapeta, confirmed that Border Strikers will be part of their league next season.
“They have cleared their arrears and we have reserved a slot for them for next season. They have showed commitment by way of depositing something into the Zifa accounts.
“Unfortunately I’m not in the office I could have read a letter that we wrote to them and even confirmed how much they paid to our account,” said Chapeta. The border town club may be taking one of the franchises abandoned by Tripple B who were relegated from the topflight or that of last year’s runners-up and now defunct Town United. Makhanda said they have picked some positives from defunct Premiership clubs Underhill and Tripple B which included branding of the club and enticing the businesspeople and the community. “The community is key to the success of the club and that is why we invited them so that they have a buy-in as well as a sense of ownership of the club. It is an open secret that Border Strikers FC in the past enjoyed massive support from the community and that is why we need them. Already we have started a membership drive as we mobilise funds so that we get the project running. Since it is a community team, we are looking at the community contributing funds so that we set up an executive which will come up with the technical team that will recruit players,” said Makhanda.
A board of trustees consisting of businesspeople will lead the club in the absence of the executive which will run the club on a day-to-day basis. Some members of the board of trustees are its chairman Maxwell Ngwenya, Hosea Muleya and Sobala Ncube.
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