Betterbrands Gold, owned by Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya, has announced a sponsorship deal of US$500,000 in support of Simba Bhora, the 2024 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions.
Sakupwanya is also the owner of Scottland Football Club, the 2024 ZIFA Division One Northern Region Soccer League (NRSL) champions and PSL debutants.
Simba Bhora president Simba “Buju” Ndoro expressed gratitude to Betterbrands for the sponsorship, saying the funds will alleviate the financial pressures associated with participating in the upcoming CAF Champions League season.
This sponsorship will supplement the US$50,000 participation fee that Simba Bhora is set to receive from CAF.
Ndoro confirmed the one-year deal with Betterbrands Gold, which may be renewed at the end of the season. He said (via <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/sport/article/200036544/scott-sponsorship-glitters-simba-bhora-path">NewsDay</a>):
<blockquote>
We are very grateful as a club to sign such a sponsorship deal. It is a welcome development for us as you know that we will be participating in the CAF Champions League next season.
Playing in Africa requires a lot of resources and, of course, this sponsorship from Betterbrands is not enough, but it will help us a lot in offsetting some of the costs associated with playing in the African Safari.
I want to thank my brother Scott Sakupwanya for this remarkable gesture. He continues to show his love for the development of football in the country.
</blockquote>
Betterbrands, sponsors of Highlanders and Yadah, are also ZIFA’s official kit sponsor.
Ndoro revealed that they have begun rebuilding their squad in preparation for the CAF Champions League and their title defence, following a surprising player exodus.
Many key players who contributed to their title win have reportedly joined Scotland.
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Scott Sakupwanya is giving $500,000 to Simba Bhora soccer team. They are champions and will play in the CAF Champions League. Simba Bhora is grateful for the money, which will help with costs. The team will also get $50,000 from CAF. The sponsorship may continue next year. Scott also owns Scottland Football Club. Simba Bhora is rebuilding their team for the upcoming season. Key players have left for Scottland. Betterbrands Gold sponsors other soccer teams as well.

Scott Sakupwanya Sponsors Premier Soccer League Rival, Simba Bhora

Fifteen miners who were <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/2024/01/04/15-miners-feared-dead-at-a-mine-owned-by-mabvuku-tafara-mp-scott-sakupwanya/">feared dead after a mineshaft collapsed</a> at Redwing Mine which is owned by ZANU PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Mabvuku-Tafara Scott Sakupwanya have all been rescued. The mine which is in Penhalonga, Zimbabwe, is run by Sakupwanya’s Betterbrands company. The collapse occurred in the early morning of Thursday, 4 January 2024.
In an update, ZBC News reported that all 15 miners are alive and rescue efforts continue.
<img alt="" class="wp-image-269275 aligncenter" decoding="async" height="245" loading="lazy" sizes="(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" src="https://news.pindula.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Miners-2-300x142.jpg" srcset="https://news.pindula.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Miners-2-300x142.jpg 300w, https://news.pindula.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Miners-2-768x363.jpg 768w, https://news.pindula.co.zw/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Miners-2.jpg 1008w" width="518"/>
Redwing Mine resumed its operations in March 2023. The mine had been temporarily closed by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) at the end of January 2023 due to more than 20 fatalities in 13 months.
Elton Makumbe, the mining director of Manicaland province said the decision to authorise the mine to resume operations was made based on the efforts made by the company to improve the situation in the area. The conditions for reopening included focusing on environmental protection, enhancing security against illegal miners, and ensuring the use of proper safety equipment.
Makumbe said it’s important to recognise that implementing these safety and environmental conditions takes time and effort. However, they can work on these aspects while continuing their mining operations and generating revenue. He added that the decision to allow the reopening of the mine considered various factors, including the economic impact on people’s livelihoods and the mine’s contribution to the country’s finances.
However, three civic groups, namely the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), Ziva Community Empowerment Trust, and Penhalonga Youth Development Ratepayers Trust, issued a joint statement claiming that 100 artisanal miners had lost their lives at Sakupwanya’s mine since 2020.
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Miners Trapped At Scott Sakupwanya's Redwing Mineshaft: All 15 Miners Rescued

The Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Zhemu Soda has issued a statement detailing the accident that occurred at the Redwing Gold Mine owned by ZANU PF’s Mabvuku-Tafara MP Scott Sakupwanya. Earlier reports indicated that 15 people were feared dead after a mineshaft at the mine operated by Sakupwanya’s Betterbrabds company had collapsed. Said the minister:
<blockquote>
<h3>STATEMENT ON ACCIDENT AT REDWING MINE, PENHALONGA, MANICALAND</h3>
<ul>
<li>The accident happened between 0500-0600am today Thursday 04 January 2024.</li>
<li>11 people are suspected to be trapped underground about 20 metres below surface.</li>
<li>Cause of the collapse of the mine shaft is suspected to be an earth tremor whose source is yet to be ascertained.</li>
<li>The miners are suspected to have entered the mine through different shafts.</li>
<li>The Rescue team of Metallon Gold at Redwing Mine together with Inspectors from our Provincial Office went underground around 0900am attempting to rescue and had to retreat after noticing the ground still carving in.</li>
<li>The team tried again around 1200hrs and noticed that the ground had collapsed more.</li>
<li>Metallon as a company has indicated that it has sufficient capacity to carry out the rescue mission.</li>
<li>More cracks developed on surface and subsidence was noticed on surface around the mine.</li>
<li>The ground is still curving in. It appears like the miners had mined out support pillars.</li>
<li>I have established that Metallon Gold Redwing has been tributing mining areas at Redwing even to individuals. The shaft that collapsed was under some individuals and the people trapped were workers of the tribute. Management of tributed areas falls under the Principal owner, Metallon Gold in this case. Therefore, The Rescue team from Metallon has been leading in the rescue effort supported by Ministry of Mines and other stakeholders including ZRP and Civil Protection.</li>
<li>Of concern is the fact that the ground at this place is visibly cracking and subsiding and therefore is unsafe.</li>
<li>They will resume rescue activities tomorrow morning.</li>
<li>We maintain strong hope that these efforts will bear fruit.</li>
</ul>
Hon Z. Soda (MP) 
Minister of Mines and Mining Development 
04 January 2024
</blockquote>
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Mines Minister Statement On Accident At Scott Sakupwanya's Redwing Mine

Fifteen miners are feared dead after a mineshaft collapsed at Redwing Mine which is owned by ZANU PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Mabvuku-Tafara Scott Sakupwanya. The mine is in Penhalonga, Zimbabwe. 
The incident occurred in the early morning of Thursday, 4 January 2024. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) confirmed the event without providing further details. Read the police report:
<blockquote>
The ZRP is waiting for full information from Officer Commanding Manicaland Police province on the alleged eleven miners trapped at Redwing Mine, Penhalonga.
</blockquote>
The police mentioned that they would provide more information at a later time.
Redwing Mine, managed by Sakupwanya’s company called BetterBrands, resumed its operations in March 2023. The mine had been temporarily closed by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) at the end of January 2023 due to more than 20 fatalities in 13 months.
Elton Makumbe, the mining director of Manicaland province said the decision to authorise the mine to resume operations was made based on the efforts made by the company to improve the situation in the area. The conditions for reopening included focusing on environmental protection, enhancing security against illegal miners, and ensuring the use of proper safety equipment.
Makumbe said it’s important to recognize that implementing these safety and environmental conditions takes time and effort. However, they can work on these aspects while continuing their mining operations and generating revenue. He added that the decision to allow the reopening of the mine considered various factors, including the economic impact on people’s livelihoods and the mine’s contribution to the country’s finances.
However, three civic groups, namely the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), Ziva Community Empowerment Trust, and Penhalonga Youth Development Ratepayers Trust, issued a joint statement claiming that 100 artisanal miners had lost their lives at Sakupwanya’s mine since 2020.
<h3><a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">More Pindula News</a></h3>

15 Miners Feared Dead At A Mine Owned By Mabvuku-Tafara MP Scott Sakupwanya

Pedzisai “Scott” Sakupwanya, a ZANU PF politician and gold dealer, allegedly used a sum of US$1 million to bring retired American former world heavyweight boxing champion, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, to Zimbabwe. <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/2023/06/21/floyd-mayweather-to-tour-zimbabwe-and-south-africa-in-july/">Mayweather arrived in Zimbabwe on July 13, 2023</a>, and was hosted in Harare’s Mabvuku high-density suburb, where Sakupwanya used the opportunity as a crowning moment in his election campaign to secure the area’s parliamentary seat.
According to reports, Mayweather’s booking fee for any appearance ranges from US$500,000 to US$749,000 before other expenses. Earlier this year, Sakupwanya was named one of the country’s biggest gold barons by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ambassador-at-Large Uebert Angel in an Al Jazeera four-episode documentary Gold Mafia, which alleged massive gold smuggling and money laundering in Zimbabwe.
Upon his arrival in Zimbabwe, Mayweather was taken to Mabvuku and later hosted at a five-star hotel in the capital at a dinner where only local business people were invited. Speaking on the sidelines of Mayweather’s Mabvuku visit, Sakupwanya said he had fulfilled his promise to bring the boxer. He said:
<blockquote>
I had promised them the boxer and it had been two years, but today, he is here.
</blockquote>
However, the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) stated that Sakupwanya should be ploughing back to the Penhalonga community where his company’s mining operations caused untold suffering to communities. The mine was closed earlier this year by the government following reports of deaths, but Betterbrands has since resumed operations. CRD head, James Mupfumi accused Betterbrands of neglecting communities while living a lavish lifestyle. He said:
<blockquote>
It is disheartening to see Betterbrands, a gold mining company based in Penhalonga, living a lavish lifestyle without showing any concern for the affected community.
The company seems to be focused on their own prosperity, while the local communities are suffering.
There has been a sustained campaign by CRD to hold to account over the deaths in Penhalonga, mineral leakages and environmental degradation, gold smuggling, lack of transparency. All these have been given a blind eye by the government.
</blockquote>
Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Natural Resources and Governance, expressed regret that Betterbrands was not reinvesting in the community where it was generating wealth, echoing comments made by James Mupfumi. He said:
<blockquote>
Extraction of gold by Sakupwanya in Penhalonga has brought with it a high death rate, accelerated environmental degradation and social conflict.
He is indebted in Penhalonga community whose lives are being seriously affected by his activities.
To then spend money he is extracting from Penhalonga on an American millionaire is a case of misplaced priorities and indifference to the suffering of the people affected by his activities.
</blockquote>
Tendai Reuben Mbofana, a political and social analyst, expressed that Pedzisai Sakupwanya’s actions reflect the detachment of political elites from reality. Mbofana stated that Sakupwanya’s willingness to spend lavish amounts of money shows his detachment from poverty and suffering. Instead, the money used to bring Mayweather could have been used to build clinics, schools, and boreholes for the people of Mabvuku.
Political analyst Effie Ncube called the levels of extravagance regrettable and demonstrates that being in Parliament and the government has become an industry that connects to looting with impunity. Rejoice Ngwenya, another political analyst, said this exposes the misguided priorities of the ruling elites. Last year, Sakupwanya brought rapper Rick Ross to Zimbabwe for a show, reportedly paying US$200,000.
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