admin
Grace Chingoma
Senior Sports Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has conferred the liberation war hero status on one of the founding members of the now-defunct Premiership football club Blackpool, the late Forbes Chitava, in recognition of his contribution to the liberation struggle.
Chitava passed on last Wednesday in Gaborone, Botswana.
He will be buried tomorrow at the Provincial Heroes Acre at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare.
This was contained in a letter which was written by ZANU (PF) secretary for Administration, Obert Mpofu.
“His Excellency, the President and First Secretary of ZANU (PF) Cde, Dr. E.D Mnangangwa has conferred a Liberation War Hero status to the late Cde Forbes Patrick Chitava who died on 10 August 2022 in Botswana and will be buried at the Provincial Heroes Acre, Warren Hills, Harare. The family can be contacted at No. 2 Cherry Tree Road, Avonlea, Harare.
“I shall be most grateful if you would make the usual arrangements for his burial and payment of benefits to his family. He is from Harare Province,” wrote Mpofu to the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda.
Chitava’s body was repatriated from Gaborone and arrived in Bulawayo on Monday evening. The body will lie in state at One Commando today (Wednesday) the body will briefly come home.
Chitava and six more members thus Ronnie Chihota, Joe “Pajero” Musenda, Ben Muchedzi, the late Joel Salifu, Ginger Chinguwa and the late Lecture Mpange were part of the original seven members who acquired a Premier Soccer League franchise from the police side Black Mambas and renamed it Blackpool.
Gorden Chademunhu later joined as another director of the club. Shaw “Ghandi” Mutemajiri was the chief of protocol and Simeon Jamanda took over the role after Mutemajiri’s death. The late Chris Sambo was the club chairman.
The club changed the Zimbabwean football landscape as it was run by professional young directors who sponsored and paid their players handsomely.
Blackpool was the first club from Zimbabwe to reach the semi-finals of the Africa Club Cup Winners Cup competition in 1995. They lost to Algerian JS Kabylie.
Some of the players who featured for the flamboyant side are Collins Kabote, Masimba Dinyero, Ernest Chirambadare, Clifton Kadurira, George Mbwando and Vivian Nkomo to mention but a few.
Meanwhile, former Warriors manager Charles “Mafripa” Dzvairo, who died on Saturday, was laid to rest at Glen Forest Memorial Park yesterday.
Dzvairo was the Warriors manager during Brazilian coach Valinhos’s stint as the coach for the senior national team.
Dzvairo is survived by three children.
Online Reporter