UNITED Kingdom-based former Zimbabwe national football team player and legendary Dynamos captain Memory Mucherahowa says Zanu PF has destroyed soccer in the country and everything else — people’s lives, families and the nation.
NATHAN GUMA
As a result, the ruling party must be removed from power for the country to go forward. Mucherahowa said Zimbabwe can only recover if Zanu PF goes.
In a live Facebook interview on Saturday night with prominent broadcaster Ezra “Tshisa” Sibanda, the straight-talking Mucherahowa — while emphasising he was not a political activist but someone whose life has been ruined by politics — said Zanu PF has now captured local football teams, particularly Dynamos and Highlanders, through Sakunda sponsorship.
He said that is why the teams would agree to go and play in a terrible ground in Mount Darwin.
Dynamos and Highlanders played the Independence Cup Final in Mount Darwin. Bosso won 5-3 on penalties.
He criticised the decision to play the match in a rural pitch, saying it was dangerous for players. Mucherahowa placed the blame on the Zimbabwean Premier Soccer League and the Zimbabwe Football Association, while saying Zanu PF is ultimately to blame.
“They (Zanu PF) have killed our football, they have destroyed our football, they have destroyed everything — they have destroyed our kids, they have destroyed our lives, our families . . . just because of a few, a handful people in power,” Mucherahowa said.
“They have managed to destroy everything in Zimbabwe. There is nothing which is functioning in Zimbabwe.”
He said Dynamos and Highlanders were put in a corner and have been captured by Zanu PF.
“Dynamos and Highlanders are put in a corner by Zanu PF. There are no sponsors in Zimbabwe. This is what is happening. Dynamos and Highlanders have been put in a corner by Sakunda. Sakunda is (President Emmerson) Mnangagwa. We all know that.”
Mucherahowa said while he would like to return home to manage Dynamos, he would not do it now.
“I want to be Dynamos dangerous . . . But going home no. To do what? To be killed by those idiots (Zanu PF). I know they will kill me or they punish me. Look at the behaviour of Tafadzwa Mugwadi (Zanu PF MP for Buhera West); he is an idiot who is angry for no reason.”
He added: “I’m saying this because I’m outside. If I was in Zimbabwe, I wasn’t going to say this because they will kill you the next day. You know those guys are killers. They have killed a lot of people.”
Mucherahowa said Zanu PF killed has people dating back to the days of the liberation struggle, including their his own uncles in Mhondoro.
“Did you see the [Herbert] Chitepo report? How can they kill such an intelligent person like Chitepo? If they can kill Chitepo, how about an ordinary person like me?”
Explaining his desire to become Dynamos chairperson in future, Mucherahowa said he cannot join the team currently because “it’s now Zanu PF”.
He said Sakunda is fronted by business mogul Kudakwashe Tagwirei but is allegedly owned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, hence football is now run by Zanu PF.
He also further said there were other football clubs like FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum in Zimbabwe equally influenced by the ruling party. He said Caps United, owned by Zanu PF Murehwa West MP Farai Jere, is also a ruling party project.
Mucherahowa, who won many titles with Dynamos and the Soccer Star of the Year award in 1994, added that Zimbabwe is now unlivable as a country as Zanu PF has reduced it to ashes.
“Zanu PF has destroyed football, families, lives — everything,” Mucherahowa said. He said due to this, he is not coming back to Zimbabwe anytime soon unless Zanu PF is gone. Mucherahowa said if he were to return home after criticising Zanu PF like this, he will be killed.
“They are killers, they have killed many people,” he said.
The legendary midfielder, who had a stint in Belgium and went to Argentina to try to join South African football legend Doctor Khumalo at Ferro Carril Oeste in 1995, said things must now change as “nothing really works in Zimbabwe”.
