Shepherd Chiware dies

Augustine Hwata Sports Reporter
ONE of Zimbabwe’s best sports consultants, Shepherd Chiware. has died. He was 45. Chiware, who was an executive committee member at Harare City FC, died on Saturday night at South Medical Hospital in Chitungwiza after being ill for over a year. He is expected to be buried at Warren Hills at 1pm today.

According to his nephew, Tatenda Zhuwawo, Chiware had been suffering from stomach ulcers for over a year and his condition worsened in the last week.

“He was taken to the hospital last week where he had an operation on Thursday. It appeared to have gone well, but then he was not eating well.
“We understand that his digestive system had been affected,” said Zhuwawo.
Zhuwawo said his uncle will be buried this afternoon at Warren Hills Cemetery.

Mourners are gathered at his home in Parkview, near Cold Comfort.
He is survived by his wife Patience and two daughters — Mercy (19) and Kundai (14).
Chiware went to Harare High School and was a promising forward who at one time in the late 1990s went for trials at English Premiership side Portsmouth and he always believed he came close to signing for the team.

Instead of pursuing a playing career, Chiware opted to try his luck in sports administration and also attended several courses in England, where he later established links at clubs such as Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday.

Chiware was once a player-coach of Division Two side Union Carbide in the 1990s and also worked at the Sport and Recreation Commission as a volunteer in the Sports for All Programmes together with Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze. Among some of his projects, Chiware worked hard to try and help Dynamos prepare for the Golden Jubilee celebrations and had roped in some of the club’s former players Memory Mucherahowa in England, Edward Sadomba among the project’s ambassadors. He however, quit after disagreements with some of the people concerned and his departure seemed to have marked the death of the project with Dynamos never staging any function to mark their 50 years of existence.

One of his occasions in the domestic Premiership was when he was appointed chief executive of the now defunct Buymore where he transformed them from a boozers outfit to a professionally-run entity in the top-flight that was able to attract such talents like that of Kingston Nkatha, James Matola, More Moyo, Archieford Gutu, goalkeeper Ronald Mudimu and Francis Chandida.

Given his vast knowledge of sport, Chiware also worked tirelessly to help local boxers who trained at Raylton Sports Club including Monalisa Sibanda who was the country’s top female pugilists in 2008. Chiware helped Harare Province to stage a successful national Youth Games and was the brains behind the launch of the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe after being touched by the plight of many of the local players who were suffering from neglect especially after incurring injuries.

After laying the platform for FUZ, Chiware also ensured that the local body secured affiliation to the world players body FIFPRO.
Former Buymore Football club chairman Wavell Gunda last night described Chiware’s death as a heavy blow to the development of “football and sport in general in Zimbabwe’’.

“Shepherd was shrewd and he worked tirelessly and passionately in shaping Buymore into one of the best and professionally run football clubs in our Premiership.

“We were new in the PSL when we engaged him as CEO and because of his vast knowledge garnered from years of research and study in sports management and development, he drew up players contracts at Buymore that became the envy of many teams.

“It was also not a surprise that because of his work and management model Buymore still had about 20 players scattered in the Premier Soccer League, five years after the club had stopped playing.

“It is so sad that he has passed on when he still had a lot to offer to our sport and he clearly understood how local government could through the municipalities and councils help to develop our sport. During his time at Buymore, he identified Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe and we had to drive to Murewa to get the coach after he convinced the executive of Jongwe’s potential,’’ Gunda said.

Jongwe, now the Zifa technical director also mourned Chiware’s death and said he had been shocked to hear of the consultant’s passing.
“We have lost one of the brilliant brains on sports development in the country.

“I worked with him at S. Chiware Sports Consultancy between 2003 and 2004 and then at Buymore in 2005 and after that we continued co-operating on the various programmes he was undertaking and I must say he was a rare breed of knowledgeable sportspersons.”