Bongani Ndlovu
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIBUSISO Nyoni has built an athletics factory on the dusty edges of Gwanda, and now he wants the rest of the region to see it.
The co-founder of Kip Keino Athletics Club in Matabeleland South says his young runners have outgrown local races and need international competition to sharpen them early, before talent is lost to poverty, distance, and silence.
Nyoni, who has spent years training boys and girls from across the province, believes his squad is ready for a breakthrough trip to Botswana as soon as February, if he can raise the money.
“I am training the boys and girls. My aim is to try a race in Botswana, funds permitting, in February,” Nyoni said in an interview.
The trip would be more than a reward. Nyoni wants it to be a measuring stick, a chance for his athletes to run on better surfaces, against stronger fields, and under conditions that can push them closer to qualification standards for bigger events.
He says Matabeleland South province has been producing athletes who repeatedly carry provincial teams at national and club championships, but exposure remains limited, especially for juniors who rarely get opportunities beyond the border.
Nyoni is now appealing to the Gwanda community, corporates, and former athletics administrators to step in, arguing that the talent is already there and only needs backing.
“We have the talent, a group of promising athletes who need early exposure. I know they won’t disappoint if given the chance,” he said.
Botswana, with its certified tracks and regular major events, offers a different level of competition and organisation, and Nyoni believes it can give his runners the kind of race experience they can’t consistently access at home.
At the centre of his squad is Msana Ndebele from Gwanda North, an 800m runner who has been provincial champion for the past two years in the Under 15 category, a sign of consistency Nyoni says is rare at that age.
There is also Brighton Ndlovu, a 1 500m runner who has already reached the national schools finals in the last two championships, showing he can handle pressure when the stage gets bigger.
Nyoni is equally excited about Sundros Moyo, who doubles in the 1 500m and 3 000m, and Courage Ngwenya, who finished second in the boys’ Under 15 national cross country championships, a result that put him among the country’s best young distance runners.
Nyoni insists this is only the beginning, saying Matabeleland South still has a deep pool of untapped talent, and that recent inter-district competitions introduced over the past two years, held outside the school calendar, are starting to widen the net and bring more athletes into the sport.
Online Reporter