Philip Shumba
Clayton Shereni
Eastern Region Division One outfit Masvingo Pirates FC last Sunday elected its 2018 executive at a meeting attended by the team’s stakeholders and board members.
The meeting saw Andrew Ushe, who left midway into the 2017 season, being replaced by Graciano Muzenda, who was the acting chairperson after Ushe’s departure.
Givewell Munyaradzi was elected secretary general replacing Owen Mafa who is now his deputy specialising in match fixtures.
The elections saw most of the members who served in the 2017 executive retain their posts including Roman Catholic Priest Father Raymond Mahefu who is team deputy chairperson and chief executive officer, Philip Shumba.
Masvingo Pirates, formerly known as Mucheke Pirates, decided to take the move as part of their preparations for the upcoming Eastern Region Division One 2018 season.
Godfrey Mtimba, who retained his post as team spokesperson, said the whole club was optimistic about the future following the election of the new executive.
“The meeting was a success since the team was able to democratically elect its leadership and deliberate on several issues in planning and preparing for the next season,” said Mtimba.
Another issue deliberated on related to team mentor Ezekiel Mutoda who was given a two year contract following a good run towards the end of the season.
Mutoda managed to lead the team to fourth position after taking over the hot seat from Johannes Nhumwa who was sacked for poor results a few games before the season ended.
“We resolved that the coach will be with us for the next two years although other terms of his contract are yet to be finalized,” Mutimba said.
Masvingo Pirates will this year battle it out with the city’s most successful football club Masvingo United FC who got promoted from division two football following a good run.
Zifa Eastern Region 2018 season is expected to kick off in March at a day to be announced by the football mother body.sport