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Dumezweni Mawite Special Correspondent

IT is a great honour and privilege to be able to share in the excitement of this grand and historic occasion to mark FC Platinum’s 25th Anniversary.

Today as we celebrate your sterling achievements, chief among them winning three (3) consecutive league titles and being the only team from outside Harare and Bulawayo to have won the league in over 50 years, let us do so with a great sense of pride and joy.

Indeed this is a joyous occasion, it has been a remarkable experience watching you develop into a strong and dynamic football brand over the years.

The club’s Patron, His Excellency, the President ED Mnangagwa, also shares the same joy.

While others may choose to disregard your accomplishments to date, I must plainly state from the onset that in the modern-day world, apart from promoting health and well-being, along with its entertainment value, football has become a significant source of livelihood.

We must, therefore, change the way we view football and conceptualise sport in general.

Sports tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global travel industry and therefore has the potential to market the country to the rest of the world and show that indeed we are Open for Business.

Hence, as the Second Republic moves to invest more in the sports industry, I must applaud the club for having the foresight to adopt and implement the highest standards of professionalism.

Sport should be self-sustaining and in this regard, you have done extremely well to embrace the concept by establishing a holding and sponsoring company (FC Platinum Holdings) and fulfilling the CAF licensing criteria, which includes among other things building a modern stadium.

Football is a community sport whose power to unify goes beyond our socio-economic and political dispositions, which is why we derive great pride in the full knowledge that you have communities at heart and they are benefiting from your Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) programme.

Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence and as FC Platinum this is exactly what you have done and it now remains for other football clubs as well as clubs in other disciplines to take a leaf from you and follow suit.

However, allow me to take this opportunity to also reveal the other side of the coin and express our displeasure, which I’m sure is shared by many, at the club’s failure to make an impact on the African club stage.

Despite your dominance in domestic football in recent times, I must call you out on your inability to go beyond the group stages of the CAF Champions League in four (4) appearances.

When you play on the continental stage you cease to be merely a team from the small mining town of Zvishavane or the Midlands Province, instead, you are carrying the national brand and the aspirations of football fans across the entire nation.

Going beyond the group stages and playing the giants of African football, such as Esperance of Tunisia or Al Ahly of Egypt has the potential to enhance sports tourism and earn the country foreign currency, in addition to stimulating the local economy particularly in the context of national devolution and vision 2030.

I, therefore, strongly urge you to make a redoubled effort on the field of play and also  go a step further with assistance from FC Platinum Holdings, Mimosa and other corporate partners and make the necessary modifications to Mandava Stadium so that it can host international matches.

As I conclude, allow me to pass a message from the club’s Patron, His Excellency, the President Mnangagwa.

A few weeks ago, he received the club president, Mr George Mawere’s resignation letter.

It came indeed as a surprise to the Patron given that he and his team were doing a fantastic job and steering the club in the right direction.

However, reluctantly though, the Patron has accepted Mr George Mawere’s resignation but only on the condition that he does not completely divorce himself from the club given his wealth of experience as an administrator.

For this reason, and as well-deserved recognition for his immense contribution to the club, the Patron has bestowed upon George Mawere the honour of life president and asked him to join the Patron as the first of only two members of the FC Platinum Council of Elders.

Together, the FC Platinum Council of Elders, that is, the Patron and George Mawere, while maintaining a non-interference role will be available to provide advice, guidance and support, as and when called upon to do so by both the club and its holding company.

The Patron thanks the outgoing club president for his loyal and diligent service to the club.

The Patron has also assured the incoming team, that his door is always open and they have his full support.

Let me end by saying, congratulations on attaining such great milestones and for accumulating as much silverware as you have.

As we celebrate let us remain alive to the club’s vision to be a leading football band in Africa and may this vision drive us forward in our ultimate goal to achieve continental club glory.

Dumezweni Mawite is the MP for Zvishavane-Ngezi and was speaking at the 25th anniversary celebrations of FC Platinum at Mandava Stadium yesterday where he was the guest of honour.