Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
In this era, there is existing evidence that modern political systems are getting more evaluations by other nations through three key pillars that include public media, tourism, and breakthroughs in sport.
Of importance is that many states in the Global South or less economically developed countries (LEDCs) have increasingly used sport to improve their international reputation and visibility.
There are anchors that define Zimbabwe’s foreign policy that include; “Friend of all and enemy to none” and “Open for Business”, which are being complemented by recent strides and achievements Zimbabwe has made in the sporting sector.
Winning in sport has become a real tool in Zimbabwe’s foreign politics and other countries, where persuasion or seduction are becoming more viable and preferred alternatives in the place of force.
This is important for Zimbabwe not only to manage its territorial and economic survival, but to care about safeguarding carefully crafted international identities concerning its reputation which has now become the most powerful mechanism in its hand to induce in rational egoist states an acceptance of modern developments.
Sport has been important for some Persian Gulf nations that have been unable to compete for medals alongside major Olympic nations and have turned to other sporting events. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai hosts the Formula 1 Grand Prix, a European Tour golf tournament, a professional tennis tournament, and a World Rugby Sevens circuit stage; while Bahrain also hosts the Formula 1 Grand Prix and a professional cycling team (Bahrain-McLaren); while Saudi Arabia has hosted the Dakar Rally from 2020 to 2024 and now is becoming a major host for wrestling entertainment and boxing matches.
That’s how the Zimbabwean story in this instance intends to use sport to benefit from international cooperation as defined by at least three events whose latest evaluations of the country as an important player has accumulated its soft power identity on global, continental and regional sporting platforms.
Last Saturday the national men’s rugby team, Sables, beat Namibia to clinch the ticket to appear at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia for the first time in 34 years; a few days before, Olympic star Makanakaishe Charamba had won the men’s 200m at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern in Switzerland; and also having come third behind US’ Noah Lyles and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo on his debut at the Monaco Diamond League 2025.
These developments came at a time Zimbabwe’s former Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry assumed the presidency of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in May and when two Zimbabweans, Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, where finalists in the Paris 2024 200m final race.
This shows that the increasing use of sport by states is essential for internal and external political reasons, is important for socio-economic benefits that should be embraced for strategic national branding.
There are many interpretations to these developments. First, the relevance of Zimbabwe in major sporting disciplines and having its citizen as an IOC president come at a time the world is witnessing notable political shifts that include the rise of non-Westen powers in many fields. For example, a recent Ipsos survey revealed that the US’ overall positive influence on world affairs has fallen in 26 out of 29 countries over the last six months.
In 2024 a British social attitudes survey revealed that pride in Britain’s history had fallen by 22 points from 86 percent to 64 percent over the past decade as the country was becoming less nationalistic and jingoistic and more reflective about its place in the modern world.
These significant developments are happening at a time it is crucial for Zimbabwe to strengthen its position of sport in a foreign policy framework and employ it to maximise diplomatic gains. In May, Zimbabwe played its first Test Cricket match against England in over two decades, reflecting how strategic the country managed to score a diplomatic political stride as that match preceded a visit to the country by Lord Ray Collins, Britain’s Africa Minister, last month.
Secondly, the escalating global geopolitical tensions and resisting being part of nor being directly involved in any of the conflicts have made Zimbabwe maintain its focus on the sport-diplomacy nexus. The Russia-Ukraine conflict; Israel-Iran technical war; Israeli genocide in Gaza; and the India-Pakistan skirmishes have helped Zimbabwe to assess the value of sport as a common good and consider its use as part of cultural relations strategy.
After this, what is now key is for Zimbabwe to enhance its capacity to make use of the international sporting goodwill it has received and translate its attractive gains to other sectors like cinema, music, culture or language as part of this diplomacy of influence.
This soft power indirectly helps Zimbabwe to orient international relations in its favour, with an action that is not coercive.
There is no doubt that Zimbabwe is using sport to pay greater attention towards acquiring various forms of economic and political attraction. This explains, in other instances why there are amicable engagements with countries like Britain and the European Union (EU) bloc’s delisting of sanctions against individuals Owen Ncube, Isaac Moyo, Godwin Matanga, Anselem Sanyatwe, and the Zimbabwe Defence Industry (ZDI).
The essence is to have Zimbabwe get back into the fold of nations after years of enduring a pariah state label.
Sports diplomacy is an effective tool for attaining diplomatic goals and promoting the state’s reputation worldwide. Zimbabwe, despite making use of strategic economic diplomacy initiatives to get back into the international fold and claim its relevance, it has found prominence through other disciplines and avenues.
This is an instructive development that Zimbabwe can effectively leverage sports as a tool for national branding using globally known and popular sports to heighten national pride and project a positive identity on the world stage.
It remains clear that the rise of the Global South is reshaping global power in many facets, economics and geopolitics, influencing emerging economies and shifting the international order.
Zimbabwe is among the Global South constructive forces that amid the unfolding great changes, continue to support economic cooperation, promote non-belligerence among states, maintenance of international peace and the implementation of sustainable practices of conducting diplomacy and building relations.
For now, Zimbabwe has earned some important dividends by using sport as a way of looking into the future.
