There was jubilation and a revisitation of an over three decades journey when ZPC Hwange celebrated its promotion to the Premier Soccer League at its Annual Awards Ceremony this Friday night in the coal mining town.
Striker Israel Mukahanana was given the Player of the Year Award. Others who celebrated include Morgan “Okocha” Nyoni, who got Most Loyal Player after enduring many years at ZPC and Beloved Mutambisi, who was awarded Most Improved Player award.
Admire Banda was recognised as
Most Consistent Player, with Gerald Choto walking away with the Most Disciplined Player accolade.
Budding Brandon Nyathi managed to bag the team’s Young Player of the Year Award as Justin Kaunda, who scored 14 goals, got the
Golden Boot Award.
For excelling not only in the campaign for Premiership but at the Champion of Champons Tournament, Harmony Nare got the Goalkeepr of the Year and Golden Glove awards.
Justin Kaundah again bagged the Supporters Player of the Year Award.
Beyond the awards night, there was more to reflect on.
It was not only about players and the coaching staff being given accolades for a crown that finally came home after 34 years of trying, but a reflection of what the new entails.
An executive driven by a passionate chairman, Farai Mahachi, his deputy Ndabezinhle Ncube and club Patron ZPC Hwange Managing Director Shepard Mukundu never gave up on the dream to one day play top flight football.
When the dream manifested, it was a moment to savour.
“We are on cloud nine. We just want to thank the Almighty for achieving this. It has not been an easy feat, actually it has been years, more than three decades of trial and at times we would fall in the last minute, but one thing that I noticed is the need to strategise, and also, soccer is teamwork.
“As the executive what we then arranged was to be closer to the team, but most importantly, the technical team, so after every match we would sacrifice a day where we would have a postmortem and share ideas on where we would have faltered and try and assist each other in terms of areas of improvement,” said Mahachi.
The success recipe complemented by the humble yet strategic, ZPC coach Mebelo Njekwa, is choosing to be modesty in victory.
As always, the down-to-earth Njekwa still maintains his optimism. He plans to carry on with the formula that took him to glory in Division One and overcome the giants of the premiership.
In his own words, he said, “Indeed it was a good season for us because of so many factors. The first one is teamwork. Wwe work together on the field of play as players and the technical on the bench. This spilt over into the executive and into our management. And for now I started rating this success at a time when we are celebrating Christmas.”
A beautiful Christmas moment it will be for a team whose hunger and thirst for success has seen its legion of fans continue to grow over the years.
The club’s supporters are upbeat that while their counterparts, Chipangano, won’t be playing top flight after relegation, all is not lost as ZPC will carry the banner.
ZPC Supporters chairman Hardlife Gutu is in an exuberant mood.
“We are grateful for what has happened. After a period of almost 34 years we are in the Premiership coming from Division One. We are happy to have top flight football not only in Matebeleland North, but also in the ZPC community. We are overjoyed. This is a result of hard work and we can’t stop rejoicing. ”
As for how long the joy will last is a story for another day.
The 2024/25 season will prove how much ZPC can go but this is certainly a “multinational disco in a society that has never danced.”
