State Media|Government will reward appropriately the Zimbabwe Senior National Netball team, the Gems, that finished eighth at the Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool, London, a Cabinet minister has said.
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said a lot of activities had been lined up to celebrate the sterling work by the Gems.
The minister said this in Harare while briefing journalists on the 26th Cabinet decision matrix that was held on Tuesday.
“Cabinet received with great satisfaction a brief by the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation (Kirsty Coventry) on the sterling performance by the Zimbabwe Senior National Netball Team, the “Gems”, at the just-ended Vitality World Cup in Liverpool, England.
The “Gems” who finished at a credible 8th position out of 16 contestants, are arriving back home today (yesterday). Cabinet urges the whole nation to accord our high-flying netball team a befitting heroes’ welcome,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
Asked if there was any reward for the team, Minister Mutsvangwa said Government, through the relevant ministry, was putting up something as part of ways to celebrate their performance.
“The netball team deserves to be congratulated. There are quite a number of activities that have been lined up. I was talking to Minister Coventry, she was telling me that they will be taken from the airport to a hotel, get remuneration and rewards for their sterling work. There will be a number of activities just to make sure that they celebrate together with the populace. They are busy putting together activities to make sure that people celebrate together with the Gems. As for remuneration that is being taken care of,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
The girls were reportedly paid US$1000 each on their arrival as part of their allowances from government. The money is a far cry compared to almost fifty times which was paid to the men’s senior national soccer team which had a disastrous outing at the recently ended Africa Cup Of Nations in Egypt.
After an impressive show on their World Cup debut, the general feeling within the Gems camp is their efforts have not rewarded them as they would have hoped.
Zimbabwe opened the tournament with victory over Asian champions, Sri Lanka before losing their second game to world champions Australia.
They, however, bounced back to beat Northern Ireland to advance to the second stage of the tournament on their debut appearance with the fans solidly behind them.