Katsande’s BMW gift

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor—
EXACTLY a week after he revived his partnership with the Warriors by clearing Callisto Pasuwa’s three-month salary arrears, Wicknell Chivayo has announced he will buy a brand new BMW sports car for senior national football team captain Willard Katsande. The Harare businessman made the announcement on Wednesday night during a live radio interview on ZiFM’s programme, The Platform, with presenter Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa, with Chivayo saying this was part of his package of support for the country’s flagship football team. Chivayo told Parirenyatwa he has developed a close relationship with Katsande, the leader of the Warriors who has led his troops into pole position in the battle to try and qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup finals as the team bids to end more than a decade away from the continent’s biggest football festival.

Pasuwa’s men hold a three-point advantage in their group, where they are unbeaten in four games, and could qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup finals as early as the first week of June should they beat Malawi at the National Sports Stadium, here in Harare and Guinea fail to win their away assignment in Swaziland during the same weekend.

Yesterday, Chivayo told The Herald it was important that the captain of the Warriors, who was doing a lot for the cause of the country on the football battlefields, should have a car — a gift from his nation — which befitted his status as the leader of the senior national team.

He said there was nothing wrong in empowering the skipper of the Warriors, as the first port of call in empowering the rest of the players who were flying the national flag, because he believes they need incentives for them to appreciate that they were doing a lot for the country.

“When the DRC team won the CHAN tournament this year, the players were rewarded with brand new vehicles because their nation appreciated what they had done for the country and while we haven’t won anything yet, I feel we are in a very good position to put ourselves in a position where we can win things and that will be great for Zimbabwe,” said Chivayo.

“To try and achieve that I have already empowered the coach and I have also given incentives to the players and also told them that should they qualify for the 2017 AFCON finals, they will share

$250 000, and there are other incentives in the pipeline and I believe that the captain should be the first to be empowered and we will go step by step after that.

“At my level I don’t have to say things twice. Indeed, when I go to Jo’burg in the next few weeks I am simply going to swipe the captain a brand new car of his choice. I don’t want our captain to feel inferior among the South African players.

“My wish is for him to go for his daily training in a brand new BMW or Benz of his choice. He is the captain of a strong national team from a country which attained independence in 1980. He deserves to travel in style like a proud Zimbabwean.”

Asked if this didn’t have the potential of creating divisions in the team, Chivayo said he believed the Warriors were not the kind of team to be divided because one of them had received a car. “If you are saying that then you are implying that when I bought the car for the coach, it divided the coaching staff and the team but look at how we played against Swaziland if you want your answer,” Chivayo said.

“After the game against Swaziland I gave $1 000 to Knowledge Musona, because I felt his penalty was special, and gave $1 000 to Costa (Nhamoinesu) because I felt that he was the man-of-the-match and are you saying that divided the team?

“In a football team, not everyone gets the same even though they play for one cause and that’s the way the game is and what is important here is that we have started something, which the players appreciate, because they now know they are not alone in all this but there are people in this country who are fighting with them in their battles.

“The supporters pay their money because that is their contribution and a patriotic businessman like me will come up with incentives, it’s the way it is.”

Chivayo, who emphasised during his radio interview that his business was not being boosted, in any way, by any Government or political connections, received a lot of encouragement and support from a number of people who sent their messages during the programme with many of them thanking him for his support of the Warriors.

“For those who still think that my businesses are not clean, legitimate enterprises, I can only say to them that it’s all bar talk,” Chivayo said. “When it’s said a consortium of companies has signed a contract for US$128 million, in simple terms it means that group is being paid for those services of putting together a power plant. What more do I have to explain in the circumstances?

“My message to those people is that they should not insult our patriotic and professional people, whose job is to decide what is legitimate and what is not, with their wild speculation that this is not legitimate when it is.

“I am doing my little part to support my country with what I am giving to our football because I am a patriotic Zimbabwean who knows that when the national football team succeeds, a lot of Zimbabweans are very happy, and I will continue to do so until we succeed because that kind of happiness is priceless.

“You saw at the National Sports Stadium when we beat Swaziland, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans with smiles on their faces, and millions more who didn’t make it to the stadium and, to someone like me, that’s all that matters.”

He reiterated that he only decided to have a change of heart, and revive his bond with the Warriors after he was reprimanded by the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe, to be guided only by national interests and not to be swayed by criticism which he should always expect given he was now in the public limelight.

“I think it’s important for everyone to remember and accept that you can’t change your past but you definitely can change your future. I now realise the less I respond to negativity the more peaceful your life becomes and the best revenge is massive success.

“A king like me has to know how to build stones with the same stones thrown at him. I’m not an unusually intelligent person with extraordinary gifts, I’m just a regular person who made a daily list of critical tasks that needed to get done and did them even when I didn’t feel like it.”

Katsande confirmed that Chivayo had called him asking him to look for a brand new car of BMW or Mercedes Benz of his choice.

“On behalf of the players we would like to thank the First Lady, Amai Mugabe, for convincing our valuable sponsor to continue supporting us and, as Zimbabweans, let’s all appreciate his efforts to support the game. We are all focused and confident we will qualify for the AFCON finals.” Chivayo has already secured vehicles for Pasuwa and Mighty Warriors’ coach Shadreck Mlauzi.