All is now set for the thrilling grand finale of the annual Mutupo/Isibongo Golf tournament which is scheduled for Royal Harare Golf Club and Police Golf Club on November 24 and 25.
The novel golf event which celebrates culture and identity through sport began last year and is only in its second year. This year’s edition has seen a series of nine events held across nine provinces in the country ahead of the final event which will be held over two days in Harare.
Tournament director Ephraim Mashingaidze is looking forward to a successful final event to close down the 2023 edition.
“We started in February up to November and we are three weeks away from the finals which will be played at Royal Harare Golf Club and Police Golf Club on the 24 th and 25 th of November,” Mashingaidze said during a press conference at Royal Harare on Wednesday.
“Those who remember in February when we had a tournament at Royal Harare we had 176 golfers coming to play in the tournament and started teeing off at 6 am so we expect another bumper crowd.
“The 2023 golfing season for the Mutupo/Isibongo tournament is very significant because it’s a year we managed to host the tournament in nine provinces which have golf courses. The only province where we did not have a tournament is Matabeleland South. It’s an important milestone that we celebrate since the introduction of the tournament,” he said.
The tournament began in Harare in February before moving to Bindura, Bulawayo,Kadoma, Hwange,Gweru, Marondera, Masvingo and Mutare last weekend.
According to Mashingaidze the tournament has discovered 22 different Zimbabwean totems which have participated in the event so far. Currently the Moyo totem leads the standings after nine rounds with 417 points followed by Mukanya on 377 and Shumba are in third place with 363 points.
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Dziva and Mbizi complete the top five with 345 and 337 points respectively. However, Mashingaidze was quick to point out that the event is not about the competition while he also highlighted the need for the initiative to be all inclusive.
“The tournament is managing to unlock opportunities both business and social for our partners. It’s not much about the competition but the networking that is created. I think the tournament went well.
“We have got a very unique scenario that we should incorporate into the Mutupo/Isibongo event which is inclusivity. When we did a tournament here in Harare we introduced the inclusivity party where we say everybody must play regardless of colour and creed.
“We discovered that Zodiac signs have an animal representation which goes with our totems so those who want to play and don’t have our African totems can use their Zodiac signs,” he said.
The event is sponsored by Lake Harvest, Proton and Surrey Group Surrey Group Sales and Marketing manager Ranganayi Zihumo expressed delight to be part of the initiative.
“We have managed to sponsor the event in all the provinces including Matebeleland which is far away from here and it’s the first time we managed to do that. It has been a great year for us sponsoring this event and we are so excited about the engagement and opportunities we are getting through this Mutupo/Isibongo tournament,” he said.
Lake Harvest was represented by sales and distribution manager Shadreck Munaki.
“As Lake Harvest we are grateful to the organisers of this event. Everywhere we went throughout the year the event was well organized. When we were not physical we knew that our brand was in good hands.
“We also got a lot of inquiries from a lot of potential customers throughout the country because of this golf event and some have become our customers. Zimbabwe has a low culture of eating fish while most people also buy fish from random sellers which is not safe at all. These were the things we tried to teach our potential customers through the provinces,” Munaki said.
Protonwer impressed by the two young players who took part in the tournament.
“It’s an honour for us to partner in the Mutupo/Isibongo golf tournament. One important aspect we figured about this competition is the one about youth participation. We had two very young players who took part and on behalf of the sponsors we need to appreciate those two and present them with a special prize.
“Golf is a good networking opportunity for all of us. As a business we have benefited a lot from this event and the golfers have appreciated our products,” Proton’s Daniel Chipato said.
