FOOTBALL has played an integral part in Rtd Colonel Tshinga Dube’s life, right from the days of the liberation struggle.
REPORT BY WELLINGTON TONI
An affable character, who interacts with all and sundry at different levels of society, Dube is the chairman of the Zimbabwe Football Trust — a unit formed to revive the game in general and in particular to liquidate Zifa’s $4 million crippling debt.
On Tuesday, Dube led members of his trust to accept a vast piece of land, adjacent to the Harare International Airport, from the CG Msipa business initiatives, where they intend to build, among other things, a stadium and a hotel to raise funds.
Dube and his son Vusa-a successful businessman in his own right — have been major benefactors to Bulawayo giants Highlanders over the years and even continue to support the team today, having bought the car being used by current Bosso coach Kelvin Kaindu. Dube spoke to NewsDay Sport on the sidelines of the handover, chronicling his involvement in the game up to date.
“I have always been a keen follower of football since my days as a boy in the 1950s. We would go to Highlanders matches and get odd jobs to do like clearing the pitch and making sure the pitch lines were visible.
“At that time, there were a lot of teams like Yellow Peril, but we followed Highlanders right through although there was a long break due to the liberation struggle. During the liberation struggle, soccer played a very important role as a liberating force and we did a lot of things under the guise of soccer.
“On my return to Zimbabwe in 1980, I continued supporting Highlanders in whatever way I could, sometimes with money, sometimes with a beast, just about anything because I was very keen to ensure that the team succeeded.
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“Football unites people, it makes people happy and I always enjoy it when people are happy,” Dube, the Marange Resources chairman and Zimbabwe Defence Industries chief executive, said.
His love for Highlanders has been evidenced by an amicable settlement of a debt from the club’s 2008 participation in the Caf Confederation Cup and funding a beerhall project for the club. In fact, that gesture by Dube and his family prompted Mines minister Obert Mpofu to help Highlanders clear a debt owed to former coach Mohammed Fathi two years back.
“I have always encouraged the club to go into projects and — funded the Manwele bar franchise project which gave them a profit last year.
“I have also bought a car for the coach to use, instead of saying we are supporting the coach without providing anything for him.
“He is doing well and we need to thank him for that and if we have resources, we will do something bigger,” Dube, a common figure at Highlanders’ home matches at Barbourfields, added.
Turning to the football trust, Dube said: “We are happy to do this. Our football has been tarnished for a very long time by this Asiagate match-fixing thing and I feel ashamed of it. Perhaps, the corporate sector is not supporting us because of this — we need to have a clean image.
“We cannot sit and rest without doing something about it. Most of our players are doing well overseas, but we need them to play at even bigger stages than club football, so this is a positive step for us and we wish the corporate sector can also see the positive side of this and support us,” Dube said of the donated land.
