Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
FROM a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title aspirant to a relegation candidate, the performance of Manica Diamonds FC has become a serious concern, particularly given the substantial financial backing it receives from the sponsors – Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC).
Despite this sponsorship, the club’s current position on the log leaves much to be desired.
This situation raises questions about whether the project is fulfilling its intended purpose for the community of Mutare and the broader Manicaland region.
This is what the stakeholders who follow the team’s performance with a passion had to say. Read on…
James Lunga Meya, popularly known as Hwetu in local football circles, wrote:
“It is clear that there is a pressing need for a complete overhaul of the club’s management structures. The current system appears detached from the community it is meant to serve. To restore pride and ensure long-term success, there is need to rope in young, capable individuals from Mutare and across Manicaland, who understand the culture, aspirations, and football heritage of the region.
“The project was intended, not only to bring competitive football to the province, but also to uplift local talent, create opportunities for promising young players, and strengthen the community’s identity through sport. Yet, lack of results on and off the field suggests that these objectives are not being met.
“Manica Diamonds FC should be a people’s project, one that places local communities and players at its heart. With proper
restructuring, genuine grassroots involvement, and focus on developing home-grown talent, the club can reclaim its purpose and become a true source of pride for Mutare and Manicaland. Manica Diamonds FC was once hailed as a symbol of pride for Mutare and Manicaland, carrying the hopes of a community rich in culture and heritage. Yet, year after year, the team has remained average — a mid-table performer — despite enjoying sponsorship from one of the most profitable diamond companies in the country.
“This situation raises hard questions. Are the sponsors truly investing enough into the club, given the vast revenues drawn from the diamond fields of Manicaland? Or is it simply a case of poor leadership and mismanagement, where resources fail to translate into progress on the field?The people of Mutare deserve transparency. This club was meant to uplift the region, to showcase local talent, and to give promising young players from Manicaland the platform they deserve. Instead, the project risks becoming a symbol of wasted opportunity. If Manica Diamonds FC is to reclaim its purpose, the entire management structure must be overhauled, and the heartbeat of the project — the community — must be restored. Mutare has the talent, the passion, and the culture to produce success; what it lacks is leadership that puts people at the centre of the project. Manica Diamonds FC should not be remembered as a failed project. It should be the pride of Manicaland. The time for accountability is now.”
Well-known player manager, Donald Manhende, wrote: “The team failed on their transfer market which happened to be a project to an individual. When it is working don’t fix it, that is the philosophy which the head coach then (Jairos Tpera) failed to understand or he never heard about it The team finished on the second position in 2023, then come the 2024 window period, the then head coach released eight regular players and they finished on fourth position which was a negative movement. He went for the same thing of releasing another eight regular players, and now they are in the relegation zone. They don’t rely on building their team basing on junior players, but they have a development side which is participating in the ERSL Division One.”
Mutare-born South African-based social media football analyst, Tom Noblar Nhathi, wrote: “Thanks for the opportunity. I believe internal football politics within Manica Diamonds is their worst enemy. After the departure of Jairos Tapera there was time to steady the ship. The team was in a better position not to fight relegation.
One of the most painful errors was to believe that an inexperienced Tafadzwa Mashiri was the right man for the job. With all due respect to Mashiri, if the team needed him he was not supposed to be thrown into the deep end. He was supposed to be brought as an understudy of an experienced gaffer.”
Mashiri is one for the future.
In answering the what went wrong part, Manica Diamonds chose to ease the pain on the tooth instead of removing it.
This is he Zimbabwean culture today. It’s allover from organizations to the Government itself. It’s no longer about who can drive the ship safely, it’s about who deserves to pocket money at this moment in tern. Posts are not being filled throgh competancy, ability or experience, it all about who knows who. P.H.Ds and Degrees have been overated, they have overpowered purpose and the novice are running all shows. Give equiped personel room to develop our projects for the benefit of our country not for individual benefiting. As a nation we hire foreign coaches for what reason? How can Malawi nationals hire a Europian to teach them Nyawu dance? In Wedza we have a subchief from Malawi who can’t even speak clear shona and one wonders how that person can promote or lead in what he doesn’t know.