The Divide Between Dreams and Reality

On 28 October 2015, I sat by my phone, the persistent buzz of incoming calls ringing louder than the murmur of the office around me. I had barely settled into my chair when the first call came through. It was a player from the Zimbabwe Mighty Warriors, the national women’s football team. The excitement in her voice was clear, but there was an unmistakable note of concern.

"Melo, we’ve qualified for the Olympics!" she exclaimed, the joy almost palpable. But then came the hitch: "We are supposed to leave camp today, but we don’t have bus fare. What should we do?"

I felt a lump form in my throat. I had been with the team for years, working tirelessly behind the scenes to help the players reach the heights they were now standing on. I knew how much this moment meant to them — how much they had sacrificed. Yet, here they were, without the means to go back home from were they were camping.

As if on cue, the phone rang again. Then again. It wasn’t just one player. It was a handful of them, each echoing the same concern. They were supposed to be embarking on one of the proudest moments of their careers, but financial support was scarce.

Many years later in 2024, Across the Limpopo River, things couldn’t have looked more different, The South African women’s team, Banyana Banyana,  just received a massive R1 million rand bonus for qualifying for the Olympics. The news struck him like a slap.

Banyana Banyana's players were going to split the money among themselves, while the technical team would be paid separately by the South African Football Association (SAFA). It was a clear and substantial reward, the kind of recognition that came with being a national team athlete in a country that had resources to spare.

On one side of the Limpopo, the players of Banyana Banyana were celebrated with million-rand bonuses, while the Mighty Warriors were left wondering how they would even make it home. This stark divide wasn’t just a matter of finances—it was a representation of the unequal value placed on women’s sports in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe.