Saul Chaminuka has literally been to every corner of Zimbabwe in search of stability.
Judging by the manner in which he drags and speaks at a slow pace every time he is asked to make a comment on something, one might hurriedly, but needlessly, suggest that Chaminuka is always tired. The nomadic coach has been at the helm of five different clubs in the last one and a half years.
He was at Black Rhinos at the end of 2023 and almost pulled off a miracle in an attempt to steer the army side out of relegation. Eventually, it proved mission impossible, and he left Chauya Chipembere.
In February 2024, Chaminuka, with a smile on his face, put pen to paper on a deal to join Bikita Minerals as their head coach. But that smile was apparently not a macrocosm of a happy life, as two months into his tenure, the soft-spoken gaffer bravely revealed he wasn’t happy at Bikita. “I’m not happy; that’s the honest truth. Things aren’t going as I expected,” Chaminuka simply put back then. Chaminuka leaving Bikita after those remarks was a question of when, not a matter of if. He eventually packed his bags, left the club, and joined GreenFuel.
On the day of his unveiling at the Chisumbanje-based side, Chaminuka was pictured with the club’s chairman Fredson Moyo, with a grin ‘from ear to ear’ kind of smile. It appeared as though Chaminuka would settle in Chisumbanje, having greener pastures at GreenFuel. Unbeknownst to Chaminuka, he would only be at GreenFuel for six months, as his union with the chaotic outfit ended under unclear circumstances.
At the beginning of 2025, he found a new home and joined Premiership new boys Kwekwe United on the 3rd of February. New home, new city, new environment, new ambitions but the same old problems for the veteran coach. He arrived at Kwekwe United and found the cash-strapped league debutants with no basic training equipment, according to media reports. So dire was the financial situation at Kwekwe that Chaminuka cut a sombre figure as he publicly pleaded for help. “We need help; things are not just well. Financially, we need assistance,” said Chaminuka. Three months later, the seasoned coach and his assistant, Clement Zuze, were suspended by Kwekwe for what the Premiership debutants termed “non-performance issues”.
Chaminuka then retraced his roots and joined equally struggling Harare giants Dynamos and was tasked with getting them out of the relegation matrix.
Whether or not he will stay there for long is a question which only time can answer.
