Its all systems go for the VFBA story to be told

**Mupfuti (L) during auditions at Mosi-oa-Tunya School in Vic Falls**

Tapiwanashe Chimoto

Victoria Falls-based boxing coach Tobias Mupfuti will this year have his story told through a motion picture when Hollywood-based Zimbabwean actor, Tongayi Chirisa, plays his role in a production also aimed at promoting tourism.

Mupfuti is the founder and director of an amateur boxing stable, Victoria Falls Boxing Academy in Matabeleland North province which has an enrolment of 62 young boys and girls, most of them underprivileged.

Mupfuti said in an interview that he has literally picked some of the juveniles from the street and given them a home, hoping one day they will transform their lives through the sport of boxing.

As a way to document the arduous journey that he has trodden, some of his friends based in the United States of America – including Chirisa – have seen it befitting to script it and package it into a movie.

Forming part of the production crew are Joe Njagu, a prominent producer and Jessie Rowlands who is writing the script. Chirisa, who has starred in the soap Studio 263 before making an international break in which he featured in movies such as The Gods Must be Crazy will play the part of Tobias.

Mupfuti confirmed they were progressing well with regards audition and other preliminary logistics.

“Three days of auditions complete in Victoria Falls for the upcoming film.

“We started the auditions at the Victoria Falls Boxing Academy and then proceeded to Mosi-oa-tunya High School where we saw children from Mosi High and from Chinotimba Primary School.

“Thereafter, we continued the auditions in Hwange, and tomorrow we return to the mining town before proceeding to Binga on Wednesday.

“We were so inspired by all the talent we have seen, and want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has come for an audition so far!,” he posted on his Face Book page.

To complement his efforts, some well-wishers have taken it upon themselves to buy Mupfuti a stand in the resort town measuring in the excess of 2 000 square metres on which he has constructed a state-of-the art gym, boarding rooms and space for other facilities.

The development, the coach said, has come as a great relief as the academy is now able to accommodate more needy children. This year they have taken part in a number of tournaments in Gwanda, Bulawayo and hosted one of their own.