Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IT’S not the kind of appointment one dreams of. It’s more like walking straight into a storm.
Try Ncube, the newly appointed Highlanders caretaker coach, has been handed one of Zimbabwean football’s most thankless tasks, reviving a fading Bulawayo giant that has spent nearly two decades chasing shadows of its past.
The timing is far from ideal. Ncube inherits a team still reeling from the controversial sacking of Kelvin Kaindu, which followed a Bulawayo derby draw against Chicken Inn and hot and cold performances in this 2025 season. The decision has left tongues wagging across the country, with speculation ranging from boardroom politics to sheer frustration over the team’s stagnation.
For Harare-based football fans looking on, the fall of Highlanders, a club once locked in fierce national rivalry with Dynamos and CAPS United, has been both shocking and sobering. Bosso hasn’t lifted a league title since 2006, a 19-year drought for one of Zimbabwe’s most storied sides.
Since their last major triumph in 2019, when Prince Dube’s strike under Pieter de Jongh saw them edge Ngezi Platinum in the Chibuku Super Cup final, it’s been a carousel of coaches, half-baked campaigns, and shattered expectations. Before that, it was Amin Soma-Phiri’s EasyCall Cup win in 2015 that gave fans their last meaningful taste of silverware.
Ncube now takes over a team riddled with structural and technical deficiencies.
The squad, many argue, simply isn’t good enough. Critics point to a chaotic recruitment policy, political interference in selections, and a baffling reliance on recycled players from less competitive sides.
Promising talents such as Talent Dube and Mvelo Khoza were promoted perhaps too soon, while stalwarts like Peter Muduhwa, Marvelous Chigumira, Godfrey Makaruse, and Lynoth Chikuwa departed for opportunities elsewhere, without adequate replacements being sourced.
Instead of plugging those gaps with proven performers, the club dipped into the Mpopoma talent pool, bringing in young prospects like Mafios Chiweta and Tendai Muvuti. While they may represent the future, Bosso’s crisis demands a present tense solution.
And that solution likely starts with funding.
Businessman Wicknell Chivayo has pledged a potentially transformative US$1 million to Highlanders. But unless that money is channelled toward strategic acquisitions and not swallowed by boardroom inefficiencies, it may amount to little more than another missed opportunity. The team needs at least five seasoned, high- impact players if it hopes to close the widening gap with Zimbabwe’s title contenders.
Highlanders’ recent defeats have exposed more than just tactical lapses. They’ve revealed physical mismatches, where smaller, less robust players are being overpowered in the middle of the park. While fitness levels can be worked on, physicality and quality are non-negotiable at this level.
The experiments of recent seasons have yielded nothing substantial. And with the 2025 campaign already looking bleak, Ncube has no room for error. His previous coaching stops, at Vasco da Gama, Sao Paulo, Busy Island, Bulawayo City and Hwange have given him experience, but nothing quite like this.
Born and bred in Entumbane, Ncube is no stranger to the weight the Highlanders badge carries. That intimate connection with the fan base could buy him time if he hits the ground running. According to acting chief executive Kindman Ndlovu, formalities are expected to be completed before Ncube’s first press conference on tomorrow.
But his first assignment offers no honeymoon period. League leaders MWOS, in rampant form and favourites for the title, await him. It’s a brutal welcome and a poor result could amplify pressure from both the terraces and the boardroom.
Kaindu, watching events unfold from the side lines, may feel vindicated. During his tenure, he was expected to build a title challenging side with scraps, players low on confidence, plucked from relegated clubs, tasked with lifting the dreams of the Soweto End faithful. Despite the odds, he was judged harshly.
In a league where success is measured in results, the Highlanders brand has managed to hold its popularity. But even the most loyal fans have their limits. Empty promises and regional favouritism have worn thin. Supporters now demand more than platitudes, they want a plan, and more importantly, they want progress. With the July 1 transfer window looming, this is Highlanders’ moment of reckoning.
If the executive delivers the right players, and if Chivayo’s money truly finds its way to the pitch, Ncube will get the platform to show what he’s made of.
Is he the architect of a Highlanders revival, or just the next name in a growing list of short-lived appointments?
