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ON Easter Monday, the Warriors raised the national spirits when they powered to a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of Swaziland to take full control of Group L in the 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers.
As the national anthem was sung on Monday, just before the Warriors plunged into battle, it was very clear to all and sundry that this was a national project and the presence of a number of ministers, to support the team, showed that this battle was for all Zimbabweans.
The Warriors bring together everyone in this country, irrespective of political or religious affiliation, and when we root for them, we are supporting our motherland, the cause of our identity as a people, that which makes us Zimbabweans, an identity that we will always be proud of.
Against this background, we find it confusing that this team, which has the capacity to cheer the spirits of the nation even when we are having our domestic challenges, should not be given the full support that it deserves.
For us to be having just a single businessman, as the sponsor of the Warriors, is at best ridiculous and at worst an indictment of everyone who calls himself a Zimbabwean, especially the companies that thrive and post huge profits working in this country and using the natural resources of this country.
Wicknell Chivayo, the Harare businessman who has been sponsoring the Warriors since the turn of the year, has been doing his best, in a tough economic environment, to provide resources for our national team and try and inspire it to the 2017 Nations Cup finals in Gabon.
This week, though, Chivayo’s relationship with the Warriors soured when the businessman announced that he was withdrawing his sponsorship because he was not happy that a newspaper appeared to criticise him when they reported that Pasuwa hadn’t been paid for two months despite what had been pledged by the businessman in his agreement with ZIFA.
We are not here to try and drag ourselves into that fallout, conscious — of course — of our role as a market leader in terms of shaping public opinion who should always be guided by what is in the interests of our great nation.
We are not here to do a witch-hunt over who is right or wrong in this dramatic fallout because, as we always do, we look at the bigger picture and support that which boosts the interests of our beautiful motherland Zimbabwe.
What we have noted and which is disturbing, is that we have belittled ourselves to become a nation that, somehow, decides to leave just one man to be the sponsor of our national team while the big players in industry and commerce just watch from a distance even when they are declaring profits.
Where are all the mobile telephone companies, who have been making hundreds of millions from the patronage of the very people who support the Warriors, in all this and can they say, with a straight face, that they are still part of our nation when they keep themselves so far away from the very national team that represents every one of us?
Where are the big mining companies, which have been making hundreds of millions from the natural resources of this country, in all this and why are they not coming forward to support a team that carries our national flag, the colours that represent the country whose resources they are digging from the depths of our mines?
Where are all the big retail outlets that we see flourishing in this country right now and can the corporate leaders really tell us that they care for this country when they turn a blind eye to the interests of a team like the Warriors, the one team that unites us all and cheers the spirits of the clients who have turned their companies into such corporate giants?
We can’t afford to keep watching from a distance, in matters that concern our national team, especially when they are very close to qualifying for the Nations Cup finals and the Warriors need the support of big corporates and not just one individual.
Online Reporter