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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE national senior netball team skipper Perpetual Siyachitema has made an impassioned plea to First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa to come to the aid of the Gems in their preparations for the Vitality Netball World Cup finals set for Liverpool, England, in July.

The girls have been in camp at a primary school in Harare for the tournament that will run from July 12-21.

In an emotional video that has gone viral, Siyachitema appealed to the First Lady to even visit the girls in camp and see for herself the conditions they are staying in while preparing for such a huge tournament.

“If I could send a message to anybody out there I would send it to the First Lady. Mummy we love you, we need you, we need your support. We are in camp, we need to go to Liverpool, but things are not going so well for us so mummy because of your soft heart I think we really need your help,” said Siyachitema.

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the kind of support or lack of it that the national team is receiving.

“I am not happy with the support that we are getting because my girls and I worked very hard to get where we are today, but we are really not getting the support that should be given to us. I don’t know why; maybe because we are ladies I don’t know. I need you guys out there to just come and support us, please. One word I would use if we don’t make it to the World Cup is disappointment. The food that we are having is not good enough for sports persons because we need proper fruits, juices and things like that, but unfortunately we can’t afford to have such things. If we can have enough funds so that we have good and proper facilities for training, have same types of training kits I think it will help us. It will really motivate us greatly,” she said.

Zimbabwe were drawn in Group A alongside defending champions Australia, Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka.