Kenny Mubaiwa
Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
ASPIRING Premier Soccer League chairman and Dynamos president Kenny Mubaiwa took his campaign to Bulawayo yesterday where he met How Mine, Bulawayo City and Tsholotsho club officials.
Mubaiwa is contesting the PSL chairmanship against his Highlanders counterpart Peter Dube on Saturday in Harare after the league’s annual general meeting.
Mubaiwa, who lost the 2014 elections 3-13 to outgoing chairman Twine Phiri is confident of beating Dube.
“The reason I lost the last election was that I took that race for granted and thought people were just going to vote for me without going on an aggressive campaign. I’ve done my homework and have been going on one-on-one campaigns so that they get to know the vision that I have for the league.
“The response that I’m getting from fellow governors is encouraging and I’m confident of a victory,” said Mubaiwa.
He identified lack of financial resources as a common problem for all PSL clubs.
“What the clubs have been saying is that they’re struggling financially and they need to be cushioned. If elected, I’m going to market the PSL brand that improved a lot under Phiri. What it requires now is for someone to take it to another level. Aggressive marketing is what we need and if we’ve a database for all the teams’ supporters, it becomes easy to sell the PSL brand. In protecting our brand, we should also protect the image of our sponsors,” Mubaiwa said.
The Dynamos boss pointed out the need to partner organisations such as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and transporters so that the PSL can negotiate for clubs to get discounted rates whenever they travel for matches.
Mubaiwa also spoke about an ambitious development project that he would lobby for once elected.
“The PSL gets money from sponsors and what I’m saying is that we can direct 20 or 30 percent of that total package to junior development. By junior development, I mean we introduce a reserve league where players that are registered in the Under-20 slots will compete in. If you look closely, you’ll see that not all players in Under-20 slots command first team jerseys and they don’t develop. We mustn’t neglect those youngsters,” said Mubaiwa.