Simba Rushwaya
Eastern Sports Echoes
ABUSE of the power of social media has led to disastrous consequences, and many criminal groups use it to show inner aggression they do not normally display.
Social media can be toxic.
This page is especially for sports, a feel good area, not a hard hit area, but I have been swayed to sound rather political after keyboard warriors needlessly attacked a sportsman from the East who did the nation proud at the ongoing world’s biggest festival, the Paris Olympics 2024.
It is against this background that I found it irresponsible for one Ali Naka who painted innocent Makanakaishe Charamba as a “ZANU PF fraud” on X, simply because he is a son of a top civil servant.
Charamba made the country proud, coming second in his heat in 20.27 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals of the highest sports festival in the world.
That alone is an achievement Ali Naka!
I was born Simbarashe Rushwaya to Gladys Sibanda and Tozvireva Vengai Rushwaya, two distinct people from me although they brought me to mother earth.
I am a journalist, and my father was an agronomist.
From where I am standing, it is unfair for people or a certain group to drag my father, Tozvireva into my profession and issues.
My father has nothing to do with me as an adult, and that is why I am perplexed that Ali Naka is deriding Makanakaishe, while the lad is representing our country at the highest sporting extravaganza in the world.
I think it is unfair.
Makanakaishe is a patriot who is representing his country with all his heart, and we all saw it on Wednesday night when he qualified for the 200m finals.
The boy has never mentioned his top civil servant father in the run-up or during the competition.
He is just concentrating on his work, which is totally different from that of his father, and deserves respect from all of us.
For Ali Naka’s information, Makanakaishe did not qualify for the 2024 Olympics through the magnanimity of the Zimbabwean Government, but met qualifying standards set by Olympics.
He met the qualifying standards for the Olympics in May after running 20 seconds flat in the 200 metres final at the South-eastern Conference Championship in Florida, United States of America.
He went there through merit.
He is a talented athlete and passionate patriot who ought to have our backing as a nation.
All over the world, sons and daughters of celebrities participate in sports, and do not get this kind of toxic harassment.
Former Liberian President, George Weah, has a son, Timothy Weah, who plays for the United States of America and Juventus in Italy. He hardly gets backlash because his father was a President of Liberia.
Below are some picks that I extracted from X which resonate with my thinking.
Uncle Tony: “For now, let’s celebrate Makanakaishe’s achievements. We don’t care who his father is and what he does.”
Anne Slot: “As long as he is wearing our national flag, we support him.”
Mcendisi: “Those hurting because of his father should be ashamed of themselves, it’s diabolical.”
Well said compatriots!
For now, enjoy your place in the sun Makanakaishe, the boy from Hillcrest College, just a few kilometres away from where I am writing this epistle.
We are proud that you went to France, and produced Eastern echoes for the benefit of our nation Zimbabwe.
Hold your head high, and know that Zimbabwe is behind you today, and in other future endeavours as you wear that beautiful flag, and reverberate to our National Anthem.
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