BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

HARARE football giants Caps United are planning to tour neighbouring countries as part of their pre-season preparations with a trip either to South Africa, Zambia or Mozambique a possibility.

The Caps technical team has designed a programme for their pre-season preparations which has been submitted to the team management for consideration.

Head coach Darlington Dodo said they would at some point need to tour one of the neighbouring countries as part of their pre-season preparations. The Caps coach, however, stressed it would be subject to approval – depending on the availability of resources.

‘Definitely, we would need at some point to tour one of the neighbouring countries for purposes of bonding and other aspects of the game including tactics. We have a programme that we have already submitted to management, but it’s subject to approval. Our choice of the country we would want to tour will depend on the availability of resources,” Dodo said.

The Caps coach said they would prefer any of the neighbouring countries with the exception of Malawi which he said had substandard stadia.

“We would prefer any of our neighbouring countries besides Malawi because we think their stadia are not up to standard. We can only talk of the tour when we know the actual dates we will be starting the season,” he added.

Traditionally, Caps have, however, been touring Malawi over the years as part of their pre-season preparations.

Caps are set to kick off the season with a virtually new-look squad after several players left the club. Some of the players who left include reigning Soccer Star of the Year Joel Ngodzo, midfielder Dominic Mukandi, skipper Hardlife Zvirekwi, goalkeepers Prosper Chigumba and Chris Mverechena, Carlos Rusere, Dominic Chungwa and Valentine Ndaba.

The Harare giants have, meanwhile, brought in more new faces such as the former Harare City trio of Ishmael Wadi, Tatenda Tumba and Munyaradzi Diro Nyenye.

They have also been joined by Carlos Mavhurume, Brendon Mpofu and Munyaradzi Kunyarimwe and Leeroy Mavhunga.

Goalkeeper Wallace Magalane joined from FC Platinum while Tatenda Munditi left Ngezi Platinum Stars for a new challenge at Caps.

The Green Machine are also waiting to sign more new faces with at least three Nigerian players expected to come to Harare for a two-week assessment period.

The Caps leadership is expected to unveil the new players once they have completed the signings of all their targets for the new campaign.

Caps were close to winning the championship last term having spent the better part of the season leading the standings, but a 3-2 capitulation away to Ngezi Platinum saw them handing the initiative to FC Platinum, who eventually lifted the coveted silverware when they edged them 1-0 on the final day of the season.

BY HENRY MHARA

BOXING superstar Charles Manyuchi returns to the ring in April to fight Muhamad Sebyala in a World Africa Boxing Association (Waba) lightweight championship bout at the Harare City Sports Centre.

The fight against the Ugandan would be Manyuchi’s first this year, and he will be returning to action since he beat Argentine fighter Diego Diaz Gallardo via a third-round technical knockout at the Harare International Conference Centre in September last year to land the World Boxing Federation (WBF) world middleweight title.

Since then, he has been inactive with a proposed fight against former national lightweight and middleweight champion Mordecai Donga which had been scheduled for late December last year, cancelled at the last minute.

Manyuchi’s contest against Seybala set for April 3 was announced by Waba president Onesmo McBride.

“Waba has given tentative sanction approval for the vacant Waba lightweight championship fight between Charles Manyuchi vs Mohamad Sebyala,” McBride said.

Dubbed the Duel of the Doom, the lightweight championship fight will headline a bout card which contains tantalising fights including a duel between local rising star Hassan “Starboy” Milanzi against Obert Makaika.

Celebrated Zambian women boxer Lorita Muzeya will face off with Lukia Ali of Malawi.

The Waba lightweight All-Africa lightweight belt will also be on the line with Evans Husavihwevhu, under Charles Manyuchi Boxing Academy, fighting with a yet to be identified opponent, for the title.

“We expect Evans to fight an opponent with a good record who is going to be approved by Waba,” McBride said.

The organisers are still putting up names for the undercard, but it is the main bout between Manyuchi and Seybala which will obviously attract more attention.

Host Manyuchi will start the fight as the firm favourite due to his impressive home form.

In the only four defeats of his largely imposing career, the former WBC welterweight silver champion has been defeated in Zimbabwe just once. That was way back in 2009 when he lost to Donga, in his only third career fight.

Since then, he has been on a roll, winning all the fights in Zimbabwe and Zambia, a country he has adopted as his second home.

The 24 wins (15 knockouts) that he has recorded, have also been achieved in fights fought around the world, including in Italy, Russia, Burkina Faso and the normally volatile Namibia. Manyuchi has drawn just once.

In contrast, Seybala’s record outside Uganda is awful. His record stands at 19 wins, 13 defeats and one draw. What is striking is that all the 13 defeats were fights outside Kampala. He is going into the match on the back of two defeats in Dubai and India which he fought last year.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

HIGHLANDERS coach Mark Harrison is looking to add five new players to his squad as he targets the 2020 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League title.

Harrison agreed to a two-year contract with the Bulawayo giants, taking over from Dutchman Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh who crossed the floor to champions FC Platinum. The Briton started work yesterday after acquiring his work permit.

Emerging from his first training session at the Old Mutual Heath Streak Cricket Academy in Bulawayo yesterday, Harrison confirmed he is looking at about five players with a view to beefing up the squad.

“We are looking at five or six players and hopefully we will start the season with a few new faces. We want to make an impact in the league and we will make sure the squad has enough players to compete. The players have been training for two weeks under the physical trainer and the assistant coaches (Mandla Mpofu and Bekithemba Ndlovu),” Harrison said.

Highlanders have already signed winger Michelle Katsvairo, who was at Ngezi Platinum Stars last term, former Caps United goalkeeper Chris Mverechena, Humphrey “Muchichwa” Ncube formerly with Bulawayo City and ex-Harare City’s Collin Mujuru.

Striker Mkhokheli Dube makes a return to the club where he ignited his career two decades ago before he went on football scholarship in the United States where he played in college leagues and the Major League Soccer.

He returned and played for AmaZulu in South Africa, Chicken Inn and Bulawayo City before joining FC Platinum where he was released at the end of last year.

The Bulawayo giants are close to capturing another veteran striker, Obadiah Tarumbwa, who joined Division One side Talen Vision last year from Chicken Inn.

Also training with the first team are Cadwell Gawaza, Darlington Mukuli, Darlington Dlodlo, Dominic Jaricha and Muziwethu Dlamini coming in from the club’s developmental side — Bosso 90.

Harrison said Highlanders will fight for the championship, but admits they face a tough challenge from other teams that are also looking good.

“I cannot guarantee the title. We have FC Platinum who have won the league three times in a row; we also have Chicken Inn and Caps who also gave a challenge last year. What I can say is that we also have to be up there. I have just come in as new coach at Highlanders to analyse what I have got and find out where we have weaknesses and where we can beef up. The new guys are shaping up nicely. We will be good. Everyone is good and buoyant,” Harrison said.

All the players from last year save for MacClive Phiri who is in South Africa have been training.

Striker Prince Dube, who returned from a trial stint in China, is also part of the cast preparing for the new season.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

ORGANISERS of the Zimbabwe Music Festival Bira (Zimfeb), a cultural exchange programme said they were gathering resources for the return of the fete this year, six years after the tragic accident that almost claimed the lives of its founder and band members.

The Zimfeb festival was founded by Sweden-based multi-talented artiste Luckson “Manlurkerz” Chikutu in April 2007 before it became an annual event with the objective of celebrating cultures from different parts of the world.

Of late, a number of local artistes have travelled to Sweden with their counterparts from the Scandinavian country also staging performances in Zimbabwe on cultural exchange programmes.

Manlurkerz, who is also the leader of the Zim Traditional Unity Band that comprises members from both African and European countries, yesterday told NewsDay Life & Style that returning the festival to Zimbabwe was among their 2020 top priorities.

“Zimbabwe Music Festival Bira is set for its return if everything goes according to plan. We are working hard to gather resources for this cultural exchange event, that brings different nationalities to our mother country, promoting different cultures, to happen,” he said.

“I know many arts enthusiasts have been anticipating the return of this festival, so as other artistes whom I have been interacting with over time.”

Manlurkerz said he had lined up a number of programmes that include workshops, traditional dance, music, among other artistic disciplines in some parts of the Scandinavian country as a way of promoting local culture.

“As artistes across genres we play a crucial role in nation building through our works. We are ambassadors of culture as our different works somehow depict our nation’s history that is showcased to the world through our creations,” he said.

“Artists must help to portray and preserve their country’s cultural history through their works and I am happy that I am playing my part in that regard.”

He said he was happy that his recently published book titled FlashBack Identity that narrates how music and dance have defined the Zimbabwean society was received well.

The book that is available in both hard copy and e-book was first published in Swedish in 2017 by Vulkan Media before it was translated into the English version. The book was showcased at the Africa festival in November last year in Stockholm, Sweden.

Guest column: Malvern Tatenda Chiweshe

MARITA is an 11-year-old girl from Epworth in Harare, Zimbabwe. She does not go to school as both her parents died of HIV two years ago. The uncle who took her in has been raping her since the day she moved in with them. As I talk to her, I can hear the innocence in her voice. I hold back tears as she tells me how the nurses at her local clinic could not allow her to get an abortion after she found out that she was pregnant. A neighbour had noticed her bulging stomach and taken her to the clinic were the head nurse told them that the law did not allow her to have an abortion. Now nine months pregnant, she asks me what she should do. Her aunt has thrown her out after she reported her uncle to the police.

Unfortunately, Marita’s case is not an isolated one. Many adolescents in her situation are forced to keep pregnancies despite the law in Zimbabwe allowing abortions for certain criteria.

The Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977 allows abortion for rape, incest, fetal abnormality and to save a woman’s life. Yet despite this many like Marita, who have every legal right to access an abortion in a State health facility, are denied.

In Marita’s case it was by clinic staff, in another well-published case of Mildred Mapingure it was a broken system. Mildred was gang raped during a robbery. After discovering she was pregnant, she went to hospital to seek emergency contraception but was referred back to the police because the doctor could not give her the medication without the police knowing.

This went on until 72 hours passed. Months later after being pushed around between police, judges and hospitals she was finally granted the order to terminate but the hospital declined to terminate stating that it was no longer safe.

These are only but two cases in a long-standing tradition or a system that denies women reproductive rights.

The question becomes what needs to happen. First and foremost, the government especially the Health ministry needs to be held accountable for making sure that the provisions of the Constitution are observed.

Contrary to popular belief, abortion is not illegal in Zimbabwe but is restricted. It is the State’s responsibility to make sure that those that meet the criteria are able to access without barriers.

It is also the duty of government to train government health workers, police and judicial officers on what the law states.

A study led by the Guttmacher Institute recommended that to reduce unsafe abortions and abortion-related mortality, the government needed to improve healthcare workers’ knowledge on abortion.

Unsafe abortions are a reality in Zimbabwe. In 2016 it was estimated that 66 847 had induced abortion. What if many of these were women who under the law deserve to have an abortion?

If the law is a upheld and access improved, thousands of lives could be saved. Thousands of girls like Marita could not be forced to be single, unemployed, homeless mothers at 11.
Women like Mildred would not be forced to carry pregnancies that are a result of gang rape.

You might be asking yourself what this has to do with you? My answer is everything. Our people are dying unnecessarily from something they should have access to.

The already crippled health system is having to provide post-abortion care at a higher cost than providing lawful abortions at a fraction of the cost. It is my and your duty to ask our government why this is so. Why are we letting women die?

We should not be quiet anymore. We need to ask our government, our Members of Parliament, why? We start today. In our engagements with our public representatives, let us ask why?

 Malvern Tatenda Chiweshe is a Zimbabwean sexual and reproductive justice researcher and advocate based in Washington DC, United States