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Philip Chiyangwa

Sports Reporter
ZIFA have never had a leader like him before — flashy, hugely ambitious and outrageously confident — he arrived on the scene with a bang, promising he would rise beyond the leadership of domestic football into the corridors of power on the continent.

And, in less than two years, he hasn’t only scaled those heights he set for himself — rising to become the COSAFA president and also becoming one of the most influential football leaders on the continent after masterminding the fall of Issa Hayatou’s kingdom.

Now, Philip Chiyangwa has a new baby to take care of — a designer clothing label he has launched, which is not only taking the social media by storm, but has thrust him back firmly in the spotlight of a world that remains bewitched by every move he makes and every word he says.

His first batch of designer clothes go on sale today. So what has this to do with sport, one might ask?

“Everything to do with me now has a touch of football because I am now a big part of the game as its leader both here at home and in the region and also on the continent,’’ he told The Herald yesterday.

“This designer clothing label bears my signature as PC and it came about when I was addressing a group of young businesspeople under the gathering of ‘Shift’ and I picked out that when I said, during my introduction, that ‘I am the ZIFA president’, there was a huge response in terms of a big warm round of applause from the crowd.

“Football is a very important game because it breaks through all boundaries and unites us as a people and at that meeting, I preached the need for unity, for us as a country to come together and appreciate each other rather than try to pull each other down all the time.

“I preached the values of hard work and why it was important for people, no matter their circumstances, not to waste time cursing their fate, but to use the moment to work hard and become better because, as individuals, we all have our special talents which, on many occasions, we don’t make full use of because we spend too much time either plotting the downfall or others or directing our anger towards those who have made it.

“I came up with the catchphrase ‘APA HAUNA CASH,’ as I emphasised the point that it’s useless to spend years directing your anger at those who have made it instead of using the time that you have to pursue initiatives that could change you and I found out that it resonated well with the audience.

“That is how the idea came for me to create this designer clothing label with the catchphrase ‘APA HAUNA CASH,’ and the response has been overwhelming from the public and this is a trademark that I own, it has been registered and belongs to me and no one can use it.’’

Chiyangwa said he related the challenges he faced when he became ZIFA president to those who feel they are down and can never rise and used the way events have turned around for the association and domestic football as an example of why it is never too late to fight for a better tomorrow.

“I told them that when I became ZIFA boss, the association was reeling from a huge debt and it was sinking, takanga tisina cash, and the choice for me as a leader was either to go with the tide, and let things crumble, or fight for a better tomorrow and, being me, I chose the latter,’’ he said.

“I used our success, the qualification of the Mighty Warriors to the Olympics, to the African Women Cup of Nations and the qualification of our Warriors to the finals of AFCON for the first time since 2006 as an example of how things can be turned around.

“So the message I am sending across is that don’t spend weeks, months and years on things that don’t add value to you because at the end of the day, the reality is that you are investing all your efforts in things that don’t matter apa hauna cash.

“The idea is to try and change the way our people think, to make them understand that they won’t get anything from pursuing agendas that don’t improve their lot because there is nothing in that when, at the end of the day, the bottom line is that it won’t bring the financial resources to you to improve your life.’’

Chiyangwa, who is also the COSAFA president, has of late been very active on social media and has also ventured into broadcasting as a host of a weekly radio show on ZiFM Stereo.