The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
IF the bad news, since their promotion into the Premier Soccer League, is that Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) clubs, Tenax FC and Hwahwa FC have been surviving from hand to mouth, waving their begging bowl at every turn, then the good news is that both teams are now taking a more serious and professional approach in sourcing sponsorship.
This is being done with the blessings of Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Moses Chihobvu.
This week, ZPCS had its annual Commissioner General’s Sports Conference in Mutare which brought together sports teams under the ZPCS banner including football, women football, golf, netball and athletics club executives as well as their technical staff.
But in a country where football is the most loved sport, Tenax FC of Manicaland and Midlands-based Hwahwa FC naturally become the flagship correctional services clubs.
Life has not been easy for Tenax FC and Hwahwa FC after they earned Premiership promotion via ZIFA Eastern Region and Central Region tickets as the prison wardens soon came face-to-face with prohibitive costs of running a football team in the domestic top-flight league.
Putting together the Castle Lager Premiership affiliation fees, and managing to settle the bill on the closing day of club registration was a nightmare for the club executive members for both correctional services teams.
For Mutare-based Tenax FC, even after displaying entertaining football on the field of play, getting the better of well resourced cross town rivals, Manica Diamonds in the ongoing Chibuku Super Cup, somehow the Shadreck Mugurasave-coached Tenax FC soldiered on while operating on a shoestring budget.
No doubt, the Chibuku Super Cup matches have shown that Tenax FC can compete favourably in the top-flight league after displaying their strength in character and an amazing fighting spirit.
Just like the Gem Boys, Chauya Chikara, a moniker given to Tenax FC by their passionate and growing support base mainly made up of ZPSC employees, are now out of the ongoing Chibuku Super Cup.
But the prison wardens will get the bragging rights in having won the first ever Manicaland Premiership derby after beating Manica Diamonds on a head-to-head basis in the 2021 edition of the domestic cup competition.
Be that as it may, the sorry state of financial affairs at Tenax FC and their Gweru-based sister club, Hwahwa FC could be a thing of the past if the path the Commissioner General espoused on Tuesday is anything to go by.
Chihobvu said there was no reason for correctional services teams to struggle financially when they could leverage on the relationship with a wide array of product and service suppliers who do business with the Government department.
“We have tried to support all our teams. I can assure you that we are looking into the challenges being faced by our teams that have been presented here.
“We discussed with management in Harare, asking ourselves how best we can help our teams secure sponsorship. We know we have the business community around us which we can leverage on.
“We do business with them every day, but it now needs the Public Relations officers and their Officers Commanding to sit down and craft a way of engaging these members of the business community for a win-win relationship.
“You need a strategy to do that. Probably today when we discuss, we have to device a way to win the hearts and minds of our corporate partners so that our teams get the much sought after funding.
“If you look at other uniformed services, their suppliers assist them in this regard, but with ZPCS teams, the suppliers are a bit reluctant to do so. To some extent, you may also include those from procurement so that we source sponsorship for our teams,” said Chihobvu.
True to the Commissioner General’s word, other uniformed forces owned teams are being well sponsored.
Black Rhinos FC, the Harare-based army outfit, is bankrolled by Fossil Agro, a subsidiary of Sakunda Holdings, and another Harare-based army club, Cranborne Bullets is being sponsored by FMC Financial Services, while Tenax FC and Hwahwa FC are surviving on alms.
Chihobvu touched on the issue of ZPCS athletes who left the organisation to join other clubs without any financial or material benefit for the clubs that nurtured their skills.
“We were talking of a number of our officers who are now turning out for other clubs. Some are within the country, while others are outside. We do not want our national sports office to benefit alone, but make sure that the teams where the respective players came from also benefit,” he said.
Chihobvu decried the absence of women in ZPCS sports teams’ leadership structures.
“I am surprised that we do not have women in most of the teams’ executives of different sporting genres.
“Why is the situation like that? We really need to shift from the old mindset, and ensure we have more women in positions of leadership within our sports teams,” he said.
