Zimbabwe’s golfing community gathered at the ZRP Golf Club in Harare on Monday for the official press launch of the NetOne President’s Cup 2026 — a tournament the organiers are positioning not merely as a sporting event but as a strategic platform for national development, investment diplomacy and unity.
The second edition of the tournament is scheduled to run from 14 to 17 April 2026, with professional golfers competing from the 14th to the 16th before the main Presedent’s Cup amateur event on the 17th to be held at the Bulawayo Country Club.
State owned telecom company NetOne has returned as the as headline sponsor, deepening a partnership that debuted at last year’s inaugural edition. During the press conference, Zimbabwe Professional Golfers Association (ZPGA) President Akil Yousuf stated “Zimbabwe doesn’t just play golf. We lead the way in sporting excellence across the continent and, indeed, the world,” he said.
He described professional athletes as “ambassadors of Zimbabwe’s national brand” and spoke of the ZPGA’s commitment to developing sports tourism and driving professional standards.
“Let’s swing for progress and swing for Zimbabwe,” Yousuf declared — a phrase the Master of Ceremonies quickly adopted as the rallying call for the day.
Representing headline sponsor NetOne in the absence of Chief Executive Officer Engineer Raphael Mushanawani, was Joseph Machiva, General Manager of NetOne Financial Services, who read a prepared address on behalf of the CEO, articulating a vision that tied the company’s corporate mission to National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
“Every stroke in golf mirrors every strategic decision in business and national development. NetOne is more than a service provider. We are a force for transformation,” he said.
Machiva emphasised NetOne’s role as a catalyst for innovation and community connection, pledging the company’s continued alignment with government priorities, before concluding with a phrase that drew appreciation from the room: “Stroke by stroke, fairway by fairway, toward a brighter future for our nation.”
When pressed directly on the longevity of the partnership, Machiva was unequivocal: “We are here for the long haul.” The declaration was underscored moments later when he presented a $50,000 sponsorship cheque to the Deputy Minister before assembled media — a tangible marker of the company’s investment in the tournament’s second edition.
On what attracted the telecommunications giant to the President’s Cup, Machiva pointed to the strategic resonance of golf with NetOne’s corporate identity. “From a corporate standpoint, our association with golf opens up a lot of doors for us in terms of the things that we can get into from a corporate point of view,” he said, adding that NetOne has “a very clear and deliberate intention to support government initiatives and also to support sport in general, beyond golf.”
A notable dimension of this year’s edition is its integration with national commemoration. Participants are expected to proceed directly from the tournament to join Independence Day celebrations — a deliberate linkage, Jesaya said, of sport and patriotism that deepens the sense of shared national identity.
