peter
MWANDIBUYA Mutepfa will always be remembered in the Midlands football folklore as secretary of the last Kwekwe/Redcliff team to win silverware.
He was 28 when Lancashire Steel stole the show in 1999 to win the inaugural Madison Trophy. Prior to that Zisco then known as Risco under coach Paul Moyo had last won a national trophy in 1978 when they lifted the Castle Cup. Despite producing gems, Kwekwe has seen silverware passing through to either Bulawayo or Harare.
The emergence of FC Platinum has brought joy to the province with four straight league championships. Mutepfa said the club had managed to be successful because of good management and company support to a committed executive and technical team. He said resource wise they were not among the best but were able to make do with what they had at any given time.
“Good management and control by both club executive and company management and a vibrant junior policy were key in our success. Lancashire Company was going through challenges and we had to make do with little resources. For instance that year we converted Luke Petros-Jukulile from a defence to striking position because we had no money to beef up our attack,” said Mutepfa.
Jukulile would turn out to be a good striker and even played for the Warriors and at one stage was the Cosafa Castle Cup leading goalscorer. He later played for Kaizer Chiefs and became the first Zimbabwean player to win the Caf Confederations Cup in 2001.
Mutepfa who is now based in Canada where he is working and studying was born on Valentine’s Day in 1971 in Wedza, Mashonaland East Province. He attended the local primary school Makanda and moved to Drake Secondary School for his secondary school education. The last four years of his six at high school were spent at Hartzell in Mutare.
He went to study accounting in Malaysia and joined Lancashire Steel in 1995. Joel Shambo, the Caps United legend was his childhood hero and in no time Lancashire spotted the potential in him as an administrator and made him committee member in 1996. A year later he was appointed club secretary a position he held up to the end of 1999.
“I was part of the executive that worked so hard and lifted the inaugural Madison Trophy in 1999,” he said.
Mutepfa said one of the highlights of their executive was seeing light early that the future and business end of the game was in grooming young players. They established a junior policy that groomed some of the best players seen in Zimbabwe in the last two decades.
“We came up with a junior policy that saw the club grooming players like Costa Maradzike, Sam Mutenheri, Tafadzwa Dube and Justice Majabvi,” said Mutepfa.
His stars continued to rise in football as in 2001 he was voted Premier Soccer League secretary-general.
“After being elected we visited the South African Premier Soccer League. We took the opportunity to study their gate and ticket system, player registration, television rights and league sponsorships and partnerships,” said the former football administrator.
Mutepfa went on to be appointed as Zifa board member responsible for development replacing Regis Dzenga who had resigned. Among his highlight moments was travelling as head of delegation of the Mighty Warriors when they took part in the 2008 Cosafa tournament and the Under-17 boys team that played Algeria in Algiers.
“I also visited Zambia on a two-day familiarization trip on how they had negotiated and implemented a government to government arrangement with Royal Dutch on the provision of a technical director,” said Mutepfa.
Between 2008 and 2010 he was the general manager of the Midlands at the Zimbabwe National Youth Games. As someone who loves the game of football, Mutepfa never turned his back on the sport. In 2015 he negotiated with Arenel for sponsorship of an Under-17s soccer tournament and was appointed tournament director. Mutepfa then moved to Canada where he stays in the third largest city called Calgary. In 2017 he was elected board member of the Calgary United Soccer Association (Cusa).
“I am a committee member of the strategic planning committee and also in the provincial association,” said Mutepfa.
He describes founding Premier Soccer League secretary-general Chris Sibanda as having been his role model.
“As a kid I supported Caps United and I used to like players like Friday Phiri, Joel Shambo and Stix Mtizwa,” said Mutepfa.
In his six years in Canada football, Mutepfa says he has learnt a lot in an environment that emphasizes good governance.
“Books are audited religiously. Financial statements are public information. All football associations including Canada Soccer Association are registered as Not For Profit Organisations and follow strict government laws so the fudiciary duties for board members are followed religiously,” said Mutepfa comparing to what obtains in Zimbabwe where most clubs’ books are literally cooked by executive members.
He was, however, full of praise for structures back in Zimbabwe.
“But our structures Division Two, Division One and PSL relegation and promotion system is far much better than here,” said Mutepfa.
Mutepfa was last week alongside former AmaZulu goalkeeper Dominic Sithole honoured for their contribution to the game in Canada. Sithole is a director at BTB founded seven years ago in Edmonton and is under the Alberta provincial association.
The former goalkeeper’s academy was voted the best in the province. BTB has 350 players and 25 coaches.
derick.khumalo