PSL back FC Platinum’s anti-cholera campaign
THE Premier Soccer League have come out in full support of the bold initiative by FC Platinum to use their position and influence as champions of domestic football to play a leading role in the fight against cholera.
The Zvishavane miners, who are set to represent the country in the CAF Champions League — their second dance in the tournament in six years - believe they should also play a big role in national issues and have come up with the “Kick Out Cholera” initiative.
The club’s parent company, FC Platinum Holdings, are working in conjunction with the Government, through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, to fight cholera and have come up with a jingle raising awareness of this disease.
The jingle features a commentary in which FC Platinum eventually defeat their opponents, who in this case are cholera, through an approach that can also help the communities around the country deal with the outbreak.
The washing of hands with soap, preparation of hot meals and clean toilets are emphasised as weapons which FC Platinum used to defeat cholera, which was trying various ways to try and subdue them.
Yesterday, PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele said they were fully in support of their champions in this initiative.
“It’s a noble idea and during the off-season, these are some of the initiatives that we encourage our clubs to do because our communities don’t only need awareness, but to conduct themselves in a certain way so that we prevent the spread of cholera,’’ said Ndebele.
“As a league, we usually come up with a charity game, part of whose proceeds go towards such national initiatives and what FC Platinum are doing is very commendable and deserves all the support that they can get.
“In terms of the league, there is food that is sold at our stadiums and we need to be on alert and also discuss with those selling the food to ensure that we don’t end up spreading things like cholera at such gatherings.
“We were discussing it yesterday at Ascot, where a number of issues related to the stadium were raised in preparation for the new season.’’
FC Platinum are under one of the most dynamic leaderships in domestic football, led by club president George Mawere and they finally reaped their dividends after years of investment, when they made history as the first club from outside Harare and Bulawayo to be crowned champions in more than half a century.
The battle to contain the cholera outbreak, first reported in Chegutu, comes just after Zimbabwe was recently honoured, alongside five other African countries, for leading the way to a Malaria Free-Africa by 2030.
The country received the honour from the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) at the 30th African Union (AU) Summit. ALMA members are drawn from 49 AU countries with the objective of eradicating malaria on the continent by 2030.
At the 2018 Alma Awards for Excellence, which were presented by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and new AU Chairman and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Senegal and the Gambia were honoured for reducing malaria cases by more than 20 percent from 2015 to 2016.
Zimbabwe’s award was received Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa.