Online Reporter
Manase Kudzai Chiweshe
ONCE a titan of Zimbabwean and African football, Dynamos now stands as a shadow of its former self, a club stifled by maladministration, legal battles, and a leadership crisis that has eroded its very essence.
Founded in 1963 by Sam Dauya as a beacon of resistance against racial discrimination in football, Dynamos once reached the pinnacle of continental competition, contesting the African Champions League final in 1998.
Today, it is a club trapped in a cycle of decline, where courtroom victories matter more than trophies and the question of ownership overshadows the game itself.
ROTTING FROM WITHIN
The club’s leadership has long been mired in controversy, with Bernard Marriot Lusengo’s protracted legal battle over a 51% stake symbolising its decay. Though the courts ruled in his favour, clearing him of fraud and cementing his control, the verdict did nothing to address the club’s existential crisis.
Instead, it exposed how Dynamos had strayed from its roots as a community club, becoming a personal fiefdom where history is rewritten to suit the powerful. Marriott’s claim of being a “founding member” is particularly galling. Historical records indicate that he was only 15 when Dauya established the club.
Yet, his legal victory has allowed him to reshape Dynamos in his own image, while alienating fans, former players, and the very community that once rallied behind the team.
The 1963 constitution, which enshrined collective ownership, was discarded, replaced by corporate manoeuvring that stripped the club of its identity. This sense of loss is not merely symbolic.
It has real, tangible effects on the club’s performance and cultural standing. Attendance has dwindled, youth development has stalled, and even the team’s once-feared home ground advantage has faded into irrelevance.
The rift between the administration and the fan base is no longer just emotional; it has become structural. Dynamos are no longer the people’s club. It’s a ghost draped in blue-and-white. The deepening disconnect between Dynamos and its support base raises questions that go beyond sport.
What does it mean for a football club to represent a community? How can heritage be preserved in the face of legal ownership battles and profit-driven governance?
These are not abstract concerns; they shape the future of football in Zimbabwe and the very identity of one of its most historic institutions.
A TIMELINE OF DECLINE
The early 2010s were a critical turning point. Dynamos won four consecutive league titles between 2011 and 2014, but these victories were accompanied by mounting unrest in the boardroom. Former players and club legends, individuals who could have strengthened the institution, were cast aside or ignored in favour of loyalists with limited technical expertise.
In the background, Marriot was tightening his grip. As legal challenges mounted, the club became less transparent. Financial records were shielded, stakeholder engagement diminished, and strategic planning was nonexistent.
The club drifted, year after year, surviving on past glories and occasional flashes of brilliance from an ever-rotating cast of players.
From 2015 onwards, the club’s competitiveness steadily declined. Trophy droughts followed, along with fan apathy and disengagement.
Younger Zimbabwean fans began gravitating towards international clubs, seeing little to admire in the Dynamos of their time. The once-vibrant culture around the club, including matchday rituals, songs, and community pride, faded into nostalgia.
LESSONS FROM MAN UNITED
In 1974, Manchester United, fresh off a European Cup triumph just six years earlier, were relegated to the Second Division.
The fall was humiliating but it forced a reckoning: ageing legends like George Best and Bobby Charlton were phased out, and a new generation, led by manager Tommy Docherty, rebuilt the club from the ground up. By 1975, they were promoted as champions, laying the foundation for future dominance.
Relegation, in this context, wasn’t just a sporting failure. It was a moral reset.
The club rediscovered its purpose, its hunger, and its identity. Fans, disillusioned by decline, found something to believe in again.
The humility of second-tier football reconnected Manchester United with its roots.
Dynamos, by contrast, have avoided such a cathartic collapse. Instead, it lingers in mediocrity, shielded by nostalgia and legal wrangling rather than sporting merit. Relegation or even dissolution could be the painful rebirth it needs.
A reset that forces Zimbabwean football to confront its systemic rot, where clubs are run as personal empires rather than sporting institutions.
That kind of reckoning has never come for Dynamos. Instead, the club muddles on, propped up by administrative inertia and a lingering sense of nostalgia.
The names on the shirts remain, but the meaning behind them has vanished. In avoiding the embarrassment of relegation, Dynamos may have also avoided the opportunity for revival. – worldpress.com
zimbabwe saints, black aces dzichiri kutirwadza shamwari. There is no guarantee that they will make it back. Every year more millionaires are joining the regions. The competition in the regional leagues is unbearable. That is why every club fears being relegated. Teams like Scottland, MWOS, Triangle, prove that there is more fierce competition in the regional leagues. Despite all its problems you can look at how Kwekwe United plays. All they needed was a millionaire buying six foreign quality players during the mid window, two in each department M/D/F. I will bet my last penny that they will not be relegated come end of season, even though there are just 14 games left.
I think analyzation of Dynamos is becoming nauseating. If sports writers don’t have anything else to write about, they must leave the spaces blank. The Dynamos this and Bernard Marriot that is becoming debilitating. Dynamos hasn’t missed a match because lack if resources or players have revolted. Dynamos has consistently fielded 11 players with a full bench of substitutes. Dynamos has not lost a match by an alarming margin. I challenge anyone to pick quality players currently available in the entire country that Dynamos can buy. Our football is so bad that some teams look like old people’s homes because of lack of depth and quality of players available. There is no youth development in the country anymore and let’s be honest teams like Dynamos used to be built to strength by bringing young players up the structures. Dynamos’s poor performance on the field has nothing to do with Bernard Marriot Lusengo. This old goat is just a shareholder. Dynamos has a fully functional committee that runs the club. Mind you Dynamos is a name and not a team. So don’t expect George Shaya or Moses Chunga to come back and play. Even teams like FC Platinum with all the “good” players aren’t performing well. They could have lost all 13 games they have drawn and would be sitting in the relegation zone as well like Dynamos. Dynamos is simply going through a very bad patch. It’s normal in football. Where is the great Jomo Cosmos of South Africa today? So why should the situation at Dynamos alarm anyone?