The Sunday Mail
Don Makanyanga
Sports Reporter
When translated into English, the Shona word takashinga means perseverance.
So, what is in a name?
Located in the heart of one of the oldest suburbs in Zimbabwe, Highfield, Takashinga Cricket Club have come of age and stood the test of time since their establishment in the early 1990s.
For a club whose major motivation was to make cricket a mass sport by making it accessible to the majority, accomplishing this, especially in a tough environment, required perseverance.
To their credit, Takashinga have achieved tremendous success since their inception given the number of renowned cricketers, coaches and top-notch administrators they have produced.
One of the club’s founders, Stephen Mangongo, spoke about the journey Takashinga have travelled.
“The concept came from myself and Bruce Makova when we were running the historical Chipembere programme, which has produced five national team captains.
“We came up with the concept of forming a club because we were churning out world-class youths like a mango tree producing sweet juicy fruits,” he said.
Shepherd Makunura, who was among the founding fathers, revealed that Takashinga were born out of the country’s two first black cricket clubs — Glen Strugglers and Bionics.
“We used to have only two black clubs that played cricket: There was Glens Strugglers and Bionics, but Glens Strugglers were to fold, which saw most of its players joining Bionics, which later changed its name to Hungwe,” Makunura said.
“Hungwe used to play at Standard Chartered Sports Club, but when they lost the ground, there were negotiations with the then headmaster of Churchill, the late Dawson Mutsekwa, and his then Sports Master, the late Peter Sharples, who agreed to let the club use the school grounds for its matches.”
The club later changed its name to Winstonians to express their gratitude to their hosts.
“After playing there (at Churchill Boys High School) for a while, it was then agreed that we had to identify with the school, and we changed our name to Winstonians,” he said.
The club later had a partnership with Churchill, through which players from Chipembere Primary School in Highfield secured scholarships at the school.
Mangongo said: “Once we had our ducks in a row, with the club concept in place, with quality cricket from the production pipeline at Chipembere Primary School, we set up a development committee led by David Eric Stone.
“Our challenge was to train harder day in, day out with 14-year-olds, and our patron was Dawson Mutsekwa.
“He also acted as a surrogate father to all Chipembere Primary School boys who got enrolled on cricket scholarships at Churchill.”
While at Churchill, the club began looking for their own premises.
With the help of the late Zimbabwe Cricket chairperson, Peter Chingoka, Takashinga were set up in the heart of one of Zimbabwe’s oldest suburb, Highfield.
“We had Danmore Padare, Richard Chibisa, Givemore Makoni, Edwin Gumbo on the inaugural Takashinga board chaired by Mangongo.
“I did put together a formidable development committee chaired by my friend David Eric Stone, Bill Flower and Muskwe — the lawyer — and Brian Thorne.
“This committee raised sponsorship from OK Zimbabwe, Standard Chartered Bank to get us started.
“Peter Chingoka and Justice Ahmed played pivotal roles in getting ZC to come on board on the Takashinga project, as they convinced their fellow ZC board members to construct the Takashinga clubhouse,” explained Mangongo.
With a burning desire to have their own home ground, the players were actively involved in the development of the playing pitch.
“The guys were excited to finally have someplace to call home.
“And most of the work on the field was done by the players. We were fortunate enough to get a ground that was already being used for football and athletics. We couldn’t afford to pay anyone,” Makunura said.
And now, whenever the name Takashinga is mentioned, names that quickly come to mind are those of Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya, Stuart Matsikinyire, Chamu Chibhabha, current ZC CEO Makoni and Zimbabwe coach Mangongo.
With almost every club franchise in Zimbabwe boasting of personnel linked to Takashinga, Mangongo attributes the success of the institution to the work ethic of those that have passed through its doors.
For more than two decades, Takashinga have been the torch-bearers, dominating club competitions in Zimbabwe.
Some of its products are dotted around the globe.
“It has been the backbone of Zimbabwe Cricket, to be honest, and to black cricket at large.
“We are proud of our achievements so far and of the number of players we have managed to provide for the national team. We also feel our job is not done yet as a club and we need to continue doing more,’’ Mangongo said.
