Vusumuzi Dube
Lovemore Dube
FORMER Ziscosteel and Tongogara FC right back Malachi Mukahanana has challenged the Kwekwe and Redcliff communities to come together and rally behind one team to bring Premiership soccer to the town.
It’s been over a decade since Lancashire Steel collapsed. This was years after another giant, Ziscosteel had met its fate and exited the Zimbabwe soccer scene.
Previously Kambasha Brothers (KB) Rockets, Kwekwe Sables, Lancashire Steel and Tongogara also had a dance with the elite leagues.
Mukahanana who played for Zisco in the late 1990s and Tongogara in 2001, says the passion in Kwekwe and Redcliff in football and sport is so good and that so many fans live in nolstagia about the great past. They remember the exploits of Paul Moyo how he turned Zisco then Risco into a football powerhouse by winning the 1978 Castle Cup and also guiding his juniors to the Chibuku Trophy.
They still talk of the 1999 Madison Cup winning Lancashire Steel FC, the last piece of silverware celebrated in that part of the Midlands.
Hordes of soccer fans drive to Gweru, Harare and Ngezi to watch Premier Soccer League matches because there is no Big League activity in their city and nearby Redcliff.
“I played football in the City of Kwekwe and Redcliff. The people are football crazy, go to Redcliff, Mbizo, Amaveni and Rutendo the appetite is there, people love football, they wish they had their own club in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League. Youths now lack motivation because they no longer have local role models to want to emulate.
“When youngsters see local heroes up against Dynamos, Highlanders, Caps United and Hwange, they get motivated and want to have careers in football. In the absence of a big team in Kwekwe football is the biggest loser.
“The football DNA is there if one looks at the great players that have emerged from Kwekwe and Redcliff over the decades,” said Mukahanana.
The former rightback challenged the Kwekwe community to rally behind Patrick Makerera who runs Kwekwe United.
“Here is a man who has a big dream to bring Premiership football to Kwekwe. He cannot achieve it alone he needs everyone’s support. If the city residents and their neighbours work together, it is not going to be a long time before Kwekwe has a team in the Premiership,” said Mukahanana.
Kwekwe United play in the Central Region Soccer League and have hooked in former Talen Vision FC general manager Juma Phiri as a consultant hoping to turn around their fortunes.
“For a City that has produced the likes of James Takavada, Ephraim Dzimbiri, Bennedict Moyo, Njabulo Zulu, Frankson Nyembere, Jonathan Boriwondo, Petros Sibanda, Luke Jukulile-Petros, Washington Arubi, Tafadzwa Dube, Stephen Matsaira, Admire Zingwe and Patrick Mandizha, Kwekwe deserves to have a team in the Premiership.
“Honestly if Tsholotsho, Shamva and Mushowani have had teams in the Premiership, Kwekwe has the population and infrastructure, an agricultural and mining industry to sustain a football team that can be a going concern,” said Mukahanana who now resides and works from Cape Town.
He remains hopeful that the Kwekwe and Redcliff communities will see the need for unity and support for one team to play in the Premiership and he believes Makeka’s project may deliver.
Online Reporter