derick.khumalo
Fungai Muderere
[email protected]
TODAY there will be no roar from Barbourfields Stadium!
No familiar choruses from Highlanders fans. No contest between Highlanders and /Chicken Inn. No celebration of football.
Instead, there will be silence.
A silence that will stretch from Bulawayo to Harare, from Gweru to Mutare, from Baobab Stadium to Bata Stadium, as Zimbabwean football pauses to honour three men whose final journey came while serving the club they loved.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) last Friday postponed Highlanders’ Castle Lager Premier Soccer League fixture against Chicken Inn following the tragic deaths of PSL vice-chairman and Highlanders chairman Retired Colonel Kenneth Mhlophe, Highlanders vice-chairman Fiso Siziba and treasurer Nkani Khoza in a road traffic accident.
“The Premier Soccer League advises all stakeholders that the Castle Lager PSL fixture between Highlanders and Chicken Inn scheduled for Sunday 26 July 2026, has been postponed following the passing of PSL Vice Chairman, Rtd. Col. Kenneth Mhlophe, Highlanders FC Vice Chairman, Sifiso Siziba and Treasurer, Nkani Khoza,” read the statement.
It is a decision that goes beyond football. It is a recognition that some losses are too painful for the game to simply carry on.
In a statement, the PSL also directed that a minute of silence be observed before every Matchday 25 fixture, while all clubs will wear black armbands in honour of the departed administrators.
For 60 seconds, the noise that defines Zimbabwean football will disappear. Referees will lower their whistles. Players will bow their heads. Supporters will stand in quiet reflection.
And in that silence, the nation will remember three men who dedicated their lives to a club that has become part of Zimbabwe’s identity.
There is a painful irony in it all.
Highlanders entered 2026 hoping to celebrate a century of existence. It was meant to be a year of remembering triumphs, legends and unforgettable moments that shaped one of Africa’s oldest football institutions.
Instead, the centenary has become a year of unimaginable grief.
The black-and-white colours that were meant to symbolise celebration have become colours of mourning. Yet perhaps the greatest tribute to Mhlophe, Siziba and Khoza is not found in speeches or statements.
It is found in the unity their passing has inspired.
For once, football has forgotten rivalries.
Dynamos supporters mourn with Highlanders. CAPS United and FC Platinum supporters stand beside Bosso faithful.
Chicken Inn, whose players were preparing to face Highlanders this weekend, now join the rest of the football family in paying tribute. When the first whistle blows at the remaining PSL venues this weekend, every player wearing a black armband will be carrying more than a team badge.
They will be carrying the memory of three servants of the game.
Administrators rarely receive standing ovations.
They do not score winning goals. They do not lift trophies before packed stadiums.
Their work happens quietly, in boardrooms, on long road trips, in difficult meetings and in countless sacrifices made far away from the spotlight.
The late Mhlophe, Siziba and Khoza lived that life of service.
Now, in death, they have united an entire football nation. This weekend, Zimbabwe’s stadia will still open. Football will still be played. Goals will still be scored.
But before every kick of the ball, there will be a minute unlike any other.
A minute when thousands will stand together, not as rivals, not as opponents, but as one football family.
Because some lives leave footprints too deep to be erased by time. And some silences speak louder than any chant that has ever echoed from the terraces of Barbourfields Stadium.-
@FungaiMuderere
