Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube-Zimpapers Sports Hub
HIGHLANDERS are winding up their tour of Botswana, where they have spent six days preparing for the 2026 Castle Lager Premiership season which promises fireworks.
Benjani Mwaruwari’s debut as Highlanders coach will be at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday, a sure-to-be hotly contested city derby against Bulawayo Chiefs.
With most of the teams seemingly having put in a shift, there is a lot of excitement around all the 18 teams, and a thrilling season appears on the cards.
Mwaruwari joined Highlanders a month ago and has been working with the boys, assisted by legend Mkhokheli Dube, and added another club celebrated hero Bekithemba Ndlovu to the technical team last week.
Malvern Moyo is the goalkeepers’ trainer with Majaha Ndlovu the fitness guru while the club’s first export in the new millennium and club legend Zenzo Moyo is the team manager.
Malvern is a former club goalkeeper who left in 2000.
With club heroes around who were successful in their own right, Highlanders have an inspiring technical team with a Bosso DNA.
Speaking from Gaborone late yesterday afternoon before an evening clash with Gaborone United, Mwaruwari expressed satisfaction in the work done so far.
He said even the fitness levels and adaptation to tactics had gone well, declaring his charges ready to roll.
“From the look of things I cannot complain, we have worked hard to be in a position where I can safely say we are ready for the challenge ahead. We will work with the players we have and hope for better results,” said the former Manchester City striker.
Mwaruwari said he is delighted with the attitude shown by the players.
“They have been absolutely fantastic, they have shown us that Highlanders is the club that they want to be at. We are happy with the positive response, and they seem to have enjoyed the camp here and built bonds, which was one of the aspects key to our preparations for the season,” said Mwaruwari.
He also spoke about the Bulawayo derby against Bulawayo Chiefs on Sunday.
“This is a crucial game. Derbies are always self-motivating. The outcome of the match will be crucial, I hope the positive results fall to us as a reward to this happy lot that we have been working with,” said the former Warriors captain who played for the Highlanders juniors alongside Malvern, Ozias Sibanda, Johnson Shambarume and Mkhuphali Masuku.
He could not be drawn into delving into who he has signed for the season.
He confirmed that they had taken 32 players to Botswana.
“We need 25 from the group, and things will be clearer when we get home on Wednesday perhaps we can be in a position to say more. We had a left back from Harare, a player from Ghana, two Bosso90, and another Bulawayo boy who we were assessing, and we looked at the smaller things and came up with the decisions we arrived at. We hope what we have is a strong team to stand the heat,” said Mwaruwari.
He returns to Barbourfields buoyed by the 1-0 win over Dynamos some weeks ago, which left fans believing that he could be on track with the project.
