Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT is a cold mid-winter morning and Harare’s Sunrise Sports Club is already teeming with life as netball lovers make their way into the indoor court.
Zimbabwean side, Chapungu Queens are going through their warm-up drills ahead of a Confederation of Southern Africa Netball Association Club Championships (COSANA) clash against Zambia’s Green Buffaloes.
NAPSA, Kitwe Rifles and Green Eagles Netball Club all from Zambia also make up the competition together with Zimbabwe’s Harare City Queens and Makate High Flyers.
Namibian Correctional Service, Lesotho Correctional Service and Eswatini’s Royal Flames were also in the 11-team contest.
For most of the Chapungu players, the international stage is familiar.
Having played the Southern Africa games before, this has become just another court, chance to earn and spend.
Precisely, winning bonuses to many of them means new wheels, clothes and fine dining at fancy restaurants.
When the topic bout the winning bonus was mentioned, the team erupted into song and dance.
Yet relative newbie Prisca Mpofu remained quiet and timid, as this meant much more to her.
Mpofu’s thoughts had already travelled about 80 kilometres north-west of Gweru, and bordering Nkayi to the west, where Silobela lies, among the most remote areas in Midlands Province.
For most people in that Region IV area, crop farming is not viable due to semi-arid conditions with low, erratic rainfall and frequent mid-season dry spells.
Here, primary school learners walk about 10 kilometres to and from school, and the community often has little to marvel at.
Somehow, they have resigned to the fact that they have nothing to look forward to and nothing good may come their way.
And this script continues to play in Mpofu’s mind as one of the many young girls who grew up in that community.
While some of her mates are already planning on how to spend their COSANA earnings, she is already planning to turn around her family’s life.
THE NETBALL JOURNEY
Raised in the heart of Silobela, where opportunities are scarce and dreams often die, Mpofu found escape on the dusty and uneven community netball courts when she was still at Hebron Secondary School.
“We neither had proper bibs nor polished surfaces, and I recall how, together with my mates, we would play barefoot using a worn-out ball,” reminisced Mpofu.
“All I know is that we were full of passion and even when our parents were against us playing in that dusty court, we were just unstoppable.”
As a teenage girl, her parents wanted her to focus more on school and household chores.
Daily, she had to hatch a plan to go and play the game, and always had to come home to a beating.
Yet her heart remained on the court.
With every pass and split, Mpofu dodged her way out of poverty and it was not long before her story changed.
After school, she was snapped up by Gweru Queens where she had a short stint before moving to Beta Queens.
“When that call came, my parents were skeptical about letting me go at first.
“Being raised in a community where child marriages and teen pregnancies are rampant, they feared for the worst…eventually they gave in,” she said.
Before long, she was spotted by Green Fuel, a Chisumbanje side where her major breakthrough eventually came.
Mpofu rose to be a force in the domestic game with her agility, speed, fast reflexes and shots from distance.
Doors started opening fast and, in no time, she was signed by Chapungu Queens with a job in the Air Force of Zimbabwe coming as part of the package
THE BREAKTHROUGH
Barely a year later, Mpofu made a crack onto the big stage with a call up to national development side Zambezi Eagles and featured at the 2025 Test Series against Malawi.
This year, she made her COSANA debut with Chapungu.
The Southern African games laid the foundation for the breakthrough that Mpofu needed as 11 top teams drawn from the SADC region converged to showcase netball talent.
It is at this tournament that national team selectors rubber-stamped her as a player who could command a spot on the national team.
She played a key role as Chapungu finished the tournament as bronze medallists behind Zambian giants Green Buffaloes and NAPSA.
With her earnings, Mpofu fulfilled her promise and constructed a first real home for her family in Silobela.
From the shabby sticks and mortar two separate rooms at the compound she calls home, the girl from Silobela has built a five-roomed house for her parents through her earnings.
“I grew up in a difficult background, netball has given me life and an opportunity to turn things around for my family,” she said, fighting back tears.
Two months after a fine COSANA show, she got her first senior national team call-up, featuring at the World Cup Qualifiers that were played in Nairobi, Kenya.
Calm, composed and clinical, Mpofu owned the goal attack bib with ease, commanding the shooting circle with maturity beyond her international debut.
At the qualifiers, her overall shooting rate stood at an impressive 91-percent.
Even in the dressing room, she is not vocal and appears to evade the spotlight while her character largely borders on timidity and insecurity of sorts.
But on court, her footwork, awareness and ability to hold and create space against tight defensive structures sends a loud message. “I know my family were proud to see me represent Zimbabwe and whenever I stepped on the court, I knew that I had to give it my all for the badge,” she said.
“With my earnings from the tournament, I purchased a television set for them so that whenever I play, they watch from the comfort of the home I built for them.
“When I played in Kenya, they had to walk a distance to go and watch me on a relative’s TV, but now they have their own set.”
For Mpofu, the COSANA stage, set Silobela on the global map.
COSANA president Leticia Chipandu hailed the games saying they drive the growth, competitiveness and international standing of netball across Southern Africa.
“The COSANA championships give clubs and players the much-needed international exposure, helping shape and polish elite talent from countries across the region,” she said.
“The competition also allows for tactical exchanges, networking and overall elevation of SADC netball standards.”
COSANA Secretary General Imelda Nerongo said the stage has played a key role in giving athletes a pathway to get into the national teams.
“The COSANA has helped shape and polish elite talent from countries across the region,” she said.
“Sport is also proving to be a powerful tool of diplomacy which is helping shape diplomatic relations.
“Most of our athletes are going international, thanks to such games as the COSANA.”
Yet for all its promise, COSANA still faces familiar regional hurdles where clubs often travel on shoestring budgets, players juggle jobs with training while allowances remain modest.
Mpofu’s rise, coaches say, is as much a story of personal resilience as it is of a system that is still fighting to fully reward its talent.
“We have more players who rose from the COSANA stage to be global stars and we are happy that we still have the platform,” said Chapungu coach Tatenda Shinya who is also a national team selector and coach.
“Mpofu is a pure gem, disciplined and talented while laying the foundation for more girls.
VILLAGE HEROINE
Mpofu is one of the many girls who got their springboard in the SADC region’s netball fiesta and has transformed life for her family.
She has also become a role model for young girls in Silobela and other marginalised communities.
Mpofu joins the long list of Zambia’s Memory Musonda, Cebisile Sibandze from Eswatini, Kelly Muyambo among others who sprung from the COSANA platform to the global stage.
In her village, they have a glowing story about her.
When the publication had a video-call interview with her former team-mates, community members gathered around the phone to speak to Mpofu.
“She loved netball and I remember she was good during our school days, although I never thought she would go this far,” said Simelelo Khumalo.
“I was surprised to see her on TV, we grew up together and I know that through netball, she has changed her family’s fortunes.
“I never thought that a girl from this remote area would rise to these levels… May God protect her.”
Her aunt Nonsikelelo Moyo could not hide her joy.
“I never thought Netball would change our lives like this, Silobela is now known on the international stage…,” she said, wiping tears.
Mpofu’s story is more than a personal triumph, but evidence of what regional sport can do when SADC creates a stage and give more girls a reason to believe.
