HIGHLANDER’S top striker Prince Dube bounces back on Sunday at Barbourfields Stadium to lead the Bulawayo giants’ charge against ZPC Kariba in the semi-finals of the Chibuku Super Cup after missing two league matches due to suspension.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

Dube was shown a straight red card against ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga Stadium two weeks ago and missed the league games against Yadah and Dynamos.

Coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh is glad to have Dube back.

“All the players that I have been working with are available. Prince is back from the red card and we have no injuries. We might be dropping one player from the regular squad of 18 because Prince is back, but we will see about that tomorrow (today) or Saturday. He is doing fine. He missed two matches. Like every other player he is in good spirits. He is an important player and has a good fighting spirit. He is back and I am happy. As a coach he will give me more tactical options on how I can surprise the opponents,” De Jongh said.

The Dutchman said he was impressed by his central defender Peter Muduhwa in the mid-week league game against Yadah FC at Barbourfields Stadium last Thursday, adding that the player showed great leadership qualities.

Highlanders won that match 3-1.

Ruled out is attacking midfielder Devine Mhindirira who picked up a severe knock against Chicken Inn early last month and De Jongh said he could be out for four weeks, probably ruling him out for the rest of the season.

He was replaced in that game by Adrian Silla who has been in good form lately together with Denzel Khumalo, Tinashe Makanda and the defensive linkman Nqobizitha Masuku.

De Jongh yesterday said it was very important for Highlanders to reach the final of the Chibuku Super Cup.

“It’s important for the club to reach the final and not necessarily for me. For me it’s just doing my job and look at each game as it comes. Let’s hope we get to the final for the first time for the club in the history of Chibuku (since the tournament returned). It will give the club a big boost for the future. I want to win; that is normal for any coach but it’s for the club to get a boost and that is very important,” the Dutchman said.

The other semi-final pits Harare City against Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab Stadium tomorrow after the Sunshine City Boys beat Triangle in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-final at Rufaro Stadium on Wednesday.

FRESH from a successful season in Australia, Zimbabwe rugby star Connor Pritchard will be hoping for more success on his return to the Cheetahs ahead of their title defence at this year’s Africa Men’s Sevens, which kicks off tomorrow at Bosman Stadium in Brakpan, South Africa.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

Pritchard, who last featured for the Cheetahs at the Cape Town leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series in December, is part of a Zimbabwe squad that will do battle in this year’s continental championship, which will double as the qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The 14-man squad arrived in South Africa last week and set up camp at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport (SAS) in Cape Town in preparation for the Africa Men’s Sevens, where Zimbabwe will battle it out against 13 other nations for the sole ticket to Tokyo.

Pritchard, who was a key member of the Cheetahs squad which famously beat Kenya 17-5 in the final of last year’s competition staged in Tunisia, said he was confident that the team would do well again this year.

“It’s been a very good and constructive camp at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport. We all met in camp last Wednesday and have been in full training. The vibe in the camp is very good. All the boys are gelling well and I am keen to see young guys showcasing their skills,” Pritchard told NewsDaySport from South Africa yesterday.

“Obviously, being defending champions, we have a lot on our shoulders, but I feel very confident that we have a very big chance of going to the Olympics. As I said, the camp has been really good and there are high spirits among the team. All we need to do is go out there and believe in our game plan and play the way we play and we should come out on top.”

The 23-year-old highly-rated player, who plays openside flanker in rugby union, has been on a steady rise in Australia where he is edging closer towards earning a contract with the Super Rugby franchise Queensland Reds.

Pritchard broke into the Queensland Country side which plies its trade in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) – a top-level tournament for players in Australia and one team from Fiji following the conclusion of the Super Rugby season.

“Initially, I was on the bench for the NRC, but managed to work my way into the starting team for the later half of the season. We just missed out on the finals after losing to Fiji Drua in Fiji.

Obviously, most of the players in the team are contracted Reds players who play Super Rugby. So the next step is to get a senior contract at the Reds and be full-time with them,” Pritchard said.

While his next goal is to earn a professional contract with the Reds, his immediate task is to lead the Cheetahs to qualification for the Olympics.

Zimbabwe squad: Njabulo Ndlovu, Kudakwashe Chiwanza, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Martin Mangongo, Ngoni Chibuwe, Riaan O’Neill, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Biselele Tshamala, Hilton Mudariki, Tarisai Mugariri, Stephan Hunduza (captain), Takudzwa Kumadiro, Connor Pritchard, Shingirai Katsvere.

Coach: Gilbert Nyamutsamba

Physiotherapist: Margie Gibson

THE Warriors will not face Red Bull Salzburg sensation Patson Daka when they clash with neighbours Zambia in a Group H 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Lusaka on November 19.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

Daka has caught the attention of watchers of the global game with a sparkling performance for his club who are also in the Uefa Champions League.

Salzburg are in the same pool as Liverpool, Napoli and Genk in the European premier club competition.

The 21-year-old scored his second hat-trick of the season last week to guide the Austrian top division log leaders to a 3-0 win over Mattersburg in the Bundesliga.

The goals lifted him to the top goal scorer’s chart with a total of 12 league goals and 14 in all competitions this season. The 2017 Caf Young Player of the Year also scored a hat-trick on October 5 in the 6-0 humiliation of SC Rheindorf Altach.

Zambia have opted to send Daka to the Under-23 Afcon which doubles as an Olympic Games qualifier. The junior Chipolopolo side kick off their campaign with a match against the South Africa Under-23 side tomorrow. The two teams are in the same pool as Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Midfielder Enock Mwepu, who also plays for Red Bull Salzburg, will also miss the matches against Algeria and Zimbabwe as he will be involved in the Olympics qualifier.

Their absence together with other Chipolopolo stars is likely to ease the burden on the Warriors, who will be looking to capitalise and take the crucial points.

Zambia coach Aggrey Chiyangi overlooked Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene.

The Warriors get their campaign rolling with a home clash against the Zebras of Botswana at the National Sports Stadium next week Friday before travelling to face neighbours Zambia four days later.

Zambia squad

Goalkeepers:

Sebastian Mwange (Green Eagles, Zambia), Mwenya Chibwe (Polokwane City, South Africa), Toaster Nsabata (Zanaco, Zambia).

Defenders:

Lawrence Chungu (Zanaco, Zambia), Stophila Sunzu (FC Metz, France), Clement Mwape (Zesco United, Zambia), Tandi Mwape, Kabaso Chongo (both TP Mazembe, DRC), Isaac Shamujompa (Buildcon, Zambia).

Midfielders:

Rally Bwalya (Power Dynamos, Zambia), Nathan Sinkala (TP Mazembe, DRC), Kelvin Kampamba (Nkana, Zambia), Salulani Phiri (Polokwane City, South Africa), Donashano Malama (Black Leopards, South Africa), Clatous Chama (Simba Sports, Tanzania), Bruce Musakanya (Red Arrows, Zambia).

Strikers:

Evans Kangwa (Arsenal Tula, Russia), Mwape Musonda (Black Leopards, South Africa), Lazarous Kambole (Kaizer Chiefs, South Africa), Justin Shonga, Augustine Mulenga (both Orlando Pirates, South Africa).

Mokgweetsi Masisi’s decisive victory in the recent Botswana elections over a coalition backed by his former boss, Ian Khama, is the culmination of an astonishing 10-year political career.

Morphing from an obscure first-time MP in 2009 to a surprise vice presidential appointment in 2014, and then president in 2018, the man affectionately known as “Sisiboy” (a play on his surname) has wrested control of Botswana from the powerful Khama family. This he has achieved using tireless campaigning and “the rebirth of the Botswana Democratic Party” (BDP).

The Khama lineage has dominated Botswana’s politics since the 1870s, right through the modern presidencies of Sir Seretse Khama (1966-1980) and Ian Khama (2008-2018). But they are now a discredited, spent force with Ian Khama’s new party having won only 5% of the vote. The prosecution of Khama’s security chief, Isaac Kgosi, and presidential secretary, Carter Morupisi, following his assumption of power in 2018, showed that Masisi was no longer willing to tolerate the widespread corruption that flourished under his predecessor. Investigators continue to uncover allegations of shocking malfeasance.

Masisi (58) is on a mission to restore Botswana’s reputation as a beacon of clean governance on the continent, and is pouring resources and energy into that effort. His ascent and success have surprised everybody. Even Khama admitted: ”I have come to realise that I have maybe misjudged him.”

The early days

My own acquaintance with Masisi goes back to childhood, when we attended the same schools and played tennis at the same club. The last time I saw him was at a now defunct laundromat in northern Gaborone, in 1994. He was his usual friendly, well-mannered self, inquisitive and loquacious. Recently returned from completing his master’s degree in education at Florida State University, he was one of the co-owners of this faltering business. Prior to going to Florida State, Masisi had worked on revamping Botswana’s social studies curriculum for its secondary schools, which he continued to do in the 1990s under the sponsorship of UNICEF. Knowing that the curriculum was a disaster (having no Botswana history at all and being full of outdated colonial and Bantu Education myths), I doubted he could make meaningful changes. Whether he ever did or not, his early career in pedagogy undoubtedly led him to confront government’s dysfunction head on.

Gaborone, in the 1970s and 80s, was a small, intimate place, and Masisi grew up there surrounded by the families of the Botswana bureaucratic and business elite.

Despite this somewhat privileged milieu and education, nothing about him then suggested that he would go on to become such an influential national politician.

Although his father, Edison, was a senior cabinet member, Masisi did not display the charisma of a Sir Seretse Khama, the first president of independent Botswana. Neither did he show the technocratic brilliance of a Quett Masire, who succeeded Seretse Khama as president in 1980; nor the emotional oratory of a Daniel Kwelagobe, the BDP chairman. Although Masisi today compares favourably to any of these political legends, none of this seemed evident in his youth. He has always been easy to underestimate. Although a prefect at Gaborone’s Thornhill and Maru A Pula private schools, he was not a standout personality. Strong in humanities rather than the sciences, he was a middling student. Similar things could be said about his teenage sports career, during which he never showed the same tenacity and killer instinct on the tennis court that he has shown in politics.

The ‘priest’

Masisi’s greatest moment in his young life was when, at 20, he was cast as the umfundisi (priest) in a 1983 Gaborone theatrical adaptation of Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country. Playing a much older man with grey hair, a shuffling gait and a quavering voice, Masisi turned in a powerful performance that brought him a standing ovation from Paton himself and President Masire.

While his acting career ended after a role in a highly forgettable straight-to-video feature, his portrayal of the priest nevertheless presaged key themes of his future political life.

After leaving UNICEF in 2003 Masisi entered politics, but failed to win his father’s old seat in Moshupa, the family home 41km northwest of Gaborone. He then endured a period of “failure, illness, unemployment, being seen as unfit for certain things, scorn and ridicule”. He relied on his newly-wed wife Neo’s salary for a time. He nevertheless persevered and built up a following, while also welcoming the birth of his daughter, Atsile.

Masisi managed to win the governing BDP’s primary and general election, landing in parliament in 2009. Within two years he was in Cabinet. In 2014, President Ian Khama, looking for an inexperienced and pliable deputy, appointed him vice-president. Like the priest in Paton’s story who went to Johannesburg seeking his sister and son only to find a degraded and desperate situation, so Masisi found the central government and cabinet unrecognisable from the institutions that his late father had served so well in the past. With the BDP having been taken over by a coalition of Khama lackeys and “tenderpreneurs” — business people who enrich themselves, often dubiously, through government tenders – even the party’s founder, former President Masire, disowned it for lacking the values and discipline of the original. Masisi’s role as vice-president was to serve as a short-term stopgap for Ian Khama’s Fredo-like brother, Tshekedi.

His looming appointment as Khama’s successor was highly unpopular inside and outside the party.

Ever since 1998, the BDP has transferred power from the president to the vice-president a year before the next general election. Masire did this for Mogae in 1998, who then did the same thing for Ian Khama in 2008.

Outmanoeuvring the Khamas

It is clear that former President Khama (66), like many others, underestimated his young vice-president. Masisi took advice in secret late-night sessions with former presidents Masire and Mogae as well as other veterans who despised “the New BDP” that Khama led.

Using their counsel, he attended party meetings across the entire country to build up his own constituency. Masisi described his years as vice-president] as “brutal hell”, adding that
I was the most abused vice-president.

Once Khama handed power to Masisi in April 2018, “Sisiboy” moved quickly onto the attack, arresting the despised Isaac Kgosi and installing his own supporters in key positions. Once the Khama brothers defected to the opposition ahead of the 2019 election, they and their supporters were thoroughly outworked by Masisi’s relentless campaign organisation.

The full story of how the underling Masisi prosecuted his silent war with Khama is one we must wait for. Ultimately, it is his energetic campaigning and his desire to bring back the forgotten ethos and policies of the early BDP – of Seretse Khama and Masire – that won over the voters despite the defection of the Khamas.

Masisi now vows to reinvigorate Botswana’s stalled economy. In this regard his supporters expect him to show no less stamina than he did in the election. – The Conversation

Barry Morton is a Research Fellow, African Studies, Indiana University

IN April, famed South Sudanese journalist, Alfred Taban, passed away in Kampala, Uganda. A former BBC correspondent, Taban was among the first reporters to cover the genocide in Darfur. On a continent, which continues to struggle with corruption, poor governance, and political instability, African journalists, such as Taban, are critical in holding governments accountable.

Yet it is becoming more and more difficult to be an African journalist, thanks to both widespread hostility from governments and increasing financial pressures.

Donors play a crucial role in extending a lifeline to Africa’s independent media. However, despite their best intentions, donors often make missteps in funding African media projects, undermining the media sector that they are trying to help.

Here are three common mistakes donors make in funding Africa’s media projects.

Funding is spent on trainings and workshops

Donors tend to spend their funds on short-term, cosmetic interventions, which fail to address the systemic constraints that beset Africa’s media. Just as development organisations can overly focus on capacity building initiatives, donors channel the majority of their efforts into trainings and workshops, believing that African reporters need to hone their journalism skills. But, this is often not the case. Most African journalists know what constitutes good reporting; they speak with multiple sources, support claims with primary sources, and provide critical analysis.

Whereas the quality of reportage has been underwhelming, it is not as a result of the lack of education on the part of journalists. What undermines local journalism is the lack of finances and unviable business models, which subjects most outlets to the control of their patrons. At The ScoopNG, where I am an investor and editorial team member, we dropped an advertiser who sought editorial control and declined several offers to publish stories in exchange for payment.

The vast majority of African media platforms are not as fortunate as TheScoopNG (although maintaining this stance has placed the platform in a situation where it is cash-strapped).

Underfunded media platforms in Africa are unable to pay their reporters, who depend on their sources to pay them for positive coverage. Brown envelope journalism is so deeply entrenched that, in Nigeria for example, most newspapers do not pay their staff. Instead, they expect their journalists to earn a living by soliciting bribes from their sources. Underpaid and crunched for time, local journalists often reprint press releases or report stories citing one source. As a result, stories in the local press become regurgitative, poorly written, unimaginative, and biased, undermining the ambitious aims of journalistic rigor workshops hope to accomplish.

Funding is project-based

If donors fund Africa media projects beyond training, the scope of the financing is project-based, which curbs local media houses’ ability to plan for the future. From a donor’s perspective, tying funding to six-month or one-year projects, for example on elections or a specific anti-corruption campaign, makes good budgetary sense. Not only does it hold local media houses accountable for the spending, it is easy to measure funding outcomes. Lacking strong business models, some African media outlets depend on these grants to stay financially afloat.

But this dependency has a negative impact on the long-term health of local reporting. Journalists in Africa are sometimes derided as “professional workshop attendees”; if that is the case, then editors have turned into professional grant writers. Chasing short-term funding and filling out grant applications every few months reduces the amount of time that editors have for setting the editorial agenda of their media platforms.

Local media platforms become stunted, and are not able to plan and build for the future by recruiting an experienced team; expanding editorial; and tackling ambitious stories that serve the public good. Donors like Open Society, Omidiyar, Bloomberg and Ford Foundation should look to provide general support for African newsrooms, with a focus on building sustainable business models.

Donor-driven agendas

Finally, donors tend to finance investigative reporting that concentrates on a few subject matters, which often reflect stories that westerners find important. Donors gravitate to the same type of stories, such as hunger in the Horn of Africa, or ivory trafficking in East Africa, or government corruption in West Africa, which crowds out slower moving stories that take longer to produce and are not considered as relevant outside the continent. Stories that focus on government policy, the environment or health care are often ignored. Nonetheless, there are glimmers of hope:

non-traditional media donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have helped to finance health reporting through outlets like Premium Times (Nigeria) and Bhekisisa (South Africa), but this is more the exception than the rule. Others have argued that this also makes newsrooms into advocacy institutions.

While important, a media landscape that solely awards, funds, or publishes a narrowly defined set of stories incentivises journalists to pursue incomplete, and distorted coverage.

While press freedom has made gains in some African countries, it is deteriorating in others. To support journalists, donors should reassess how they have been financing media on the continent.

Donor energies and funds should address the systemic problem of unpaid and under-resourced reporters by helping independent media platforms create sustainable business models. Donors can also provide grants and fellowships to these platforms that are on a rolling basis and adhere to milestones. Donor mandates that have a larger scope would allow for comprehensive reform and lead to greater impact and community ownership in Africa’s media.

 Adewunmi Emoruwa is an investor in African media start-ups democratising access to information, including thescoopng.com and The Election Network. He is the lead strategist at Gatefield, a public strategy group.

BULAWAYO councillors have expressed concern over a spike in diarrhoea cases in the city amid revelations by the health department that the source of the disease remains unknown.

BY NQOBANI NDLOVU

A recent report compiled by the council’s health, housing and education committee shows that as many as 473 cases were recorded between July and September.

On Monday alone, four cases were recorded at Nketa council clinic, mayor Solomon Mguni confirmed in an interview yesterday.

“We are still trying to find out what could be the cause of these diarrhoea cases in the city.
“We would also like to believe that probably some of them have to do with residents drinking water from contaminated containers they use to store water in the wake of water shortages,” Mguni said.

The diarrhoea outbreak comes at a time the council has rolled out awareness programmes to avert outbreaks of waterborne diseases against the background of sewage pipe bursts.

“Diarrhoea cases (473) were on the increase in the month of September 2019, exceeding the action threshold for four clinics (EF Watson: 23 cases, Mzilikazi: 16 cases, Pelandaba: 11 cases and Magwegwe: 9 cases); followed by a total of forty-two (42) dog bite cases,” the latest council disease surveillance report read.

“This is a major public health concern. The diarrhoea outbreak was investigated and contact tracing was done, however, the etiological agent remains unknown. All the contacts visited were asymptomatic.

“Since the causative agent is still unknown, the rise in diarrhoea cases from July to September 2019 creates an urgent need for the protective factors against contracting diarrhoea to be strengthened.

“These include improved (water, sanitation and hygiene) activities, contact tracing, active case finding as well as health education and intensified shop inspections. There is also a need for factors associated with contracting diarrhoea in Bulawayo to be assessed so that preventive measures can be established.”

Bulawayo has largely been spared of deaths related to water-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera and diarrhoea. In 2008 and 2009, the city was also relatively unscathed by the cholera epidemic that swept the country at the time and left thousands dead.

AN AFRICAN modelling and fashion platform titled Model Entertainment Afrika has been launched to advocate for the professional promotion and exposure of African beauty and talent.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA

The platform is a digital modelling portfolio and virtual fashion runway where different models will showcase fashion from different designers around the world.

Speaking to NewsDay Life & Style yesterday, business entrepreneur and founder of the website, Mike Mandoza said the idea of launching the platform came after the recent cancellation of Zimbabwe’s participation in the Miss world pageant which was spoiled by lack of support from cooperates.

“Due to the recent cancellation of Zimbabwe’s participation in the Global “Miss World” pageant 2019, owing to the lack of moral and corporate support, coupled with financial and organisational constraints, a ray of hope shimmers in our new online digital platform and the cultural agency decided to give the limelight to the African beauties and talented designers,” he said.

Mandoza said the site has become phenomenally active and visible throughout the African continent and in other western countries. It is hoped the platform would help establish Zimbabwe and Africa on the global fashion and modelling arena.

Mandoza added that the platform is meant to promote African business, culture and tourism.
“The website is a multi-functional humanitarian institution promoting African beauty, African values, culture, heritage, tourism and hospitality, as well as business and education,” he said.

Mandoza, who was recently studying digital arts and film making said Africa had a massive untapped digital creative economy potential.

“The concept of the creative economy, particularly in Africa, is an evolving idea that has the possibility of gaining global acceptance and traction in contemporary thinking about economic development if people adapt digital technology,” he said.

Mandoza sees his innovative development as an all-encompassing virtual model agency with the potential to help improve the lives of the African model and girlchild.

He said his long-term interest in fashion, culture, design and film industry inspired him to create this ground-breaking portal.

Now at an advanced stage, the portal is expected to offer deportment and etiquette training for those select models wanting to further their careers.