A SAGA ZIFA DOESN’T NEED

Bothwell Mahlengwe
AS humans, we have an inclination for always trying to be right or being on the right side. This is because of our competitive nature. However, it is not always that a person is right or is on the right side.
This is purely human.

And when you are found in the wrong, the best way forward is to swallow your pride, apologise and move on.

The case of the High Performance Committee and the Warriors coach has left a sour taste in many people’s mouths.

Just when everyone thought Zifa had pledged to the nation, through Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, that they will put their act together for the good of football, we then have this unnecessary fight over a simple issue that can be solved by a simple conference call or a round-table meeting.

One of Zifa’s top priorities, at the moment, should be to spruce up its image. It goes without saying that the Zifa brand is badly tainted and needs a lot of cleansing. We cannot have mature adults having a go at each other unnecessarily in public and expect that to help our football image.

The HPC-Gorowa debacle has exposed a lot about how our game is being run.

First of all, I think the committee was right in not being amused by the coach’s failure to submit a report in time. The Tanzania game was played close to a month ago and for the coach to be still giving excuses by now is unacceptable.

This just goes to show the lax approach we have with matters of high importance.

I think the report is of paramount importance that it shouldn’t have taken a week to produce, especially after the disaster of being eliminated from the AFCON qualifiers.
This should have been properly communicated to the coach.

Secondly, proper and clear communication channels should be established at Zifa and all its organs. For starters, it seems like everyone can communicate with the press at any time.

If we are serious about the Zifa brand, this should not be allowed to happen; especially with information that’s likely to put the image of the Association and football at large in bad light.

I also think that when the HPC was formed, its terms of reference (I pray they are there) should have been clearly spelt out and properly communicated to everyone it was going to affect whether directly or indirectly.

My take is this committee was established to assess the performance of the national technical teams, among its other duties, and as such Gorowa should have been in the know, not only of its existence, but also of his duties to the committee.

It is clear that the HPC plays a supervisory duty to all national technical teams and that means a dotted reporting line was created between Gorowa and the HPC.

For Gorowa to then say he doesn’t report to HPC is either failure to understand the intricacy of organisational reporting lines or mere arrogance.

HPC is a Zifa Board-created organ and as such, it is above the CEO.

In organisational structures, some reporting lines are implied. As a word of advice to Zifa, I think there is need for courses to some of their employees that focus on HR issues.

Looking at most of their technical staff, their background lies on the football pitch.

Thirdly, we cannot solve all our problems in the public. Clearly, there are no clear grievance resolution platforms and channels at Zifa.

I don’t think this was an issue that was supposed to spill into the public arena with such ugliness. Now it looks like a Homela-Gorowa issue when it’s a Warriors’ technical team-HPC issue.

Somehow, it has been reduced to a personality clash, when this is supposed to be a national football issue.

Probably Homela was speaking as the committee’s spokesperson and as such, Gorowa shouldn’t have attacked him personally.

If that was not the case then Homela needs some serious reprimanding.

Fourth, and most importantly, Zifa is not supposed to be a two-man band. It looks like it is its president, Cuthbert Dube, and CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze who are running the show.

In this case, John Phiri’s silence is deafening.

It seems he has been reduced to a mere spectator, either because he doesn’t know his role or he is so diplomatic in the way he handles such issues.

I feel that as a board member and the head of HPC, he should be in the forefront giving direction. It’s sad Gorowa doesn’t recognise Phiri’s presence and participation in the HPC.

He only knows of Mashingaidze, who happens to report to the board of which Phiri is part.

As I write, the nation doesn’t know whether Gorowa has a contract or not. We also don’t know if he submitted his CV and qualifications documents to Zifa or not. All is known by Dube and Mashingaidze.

If the board members knew, then John Phiri would have advised the HPC. Clearly, something is not right here.

It is reported that most of the decisions and activities at Zifa are taken by those two to an extent that the Board members would not be in the know about issues in areas of their jurisdiction.

A case in point is of financial issues, where the board members (past and present) don’t even get sight of the Association’s bank statement.

We need the board members to start pulling their weight for the sake of our football.

Dube and Mashingaidze need serious monitoring and guidance, otherwise the board’s term in the office would end in the same way as the previous one — a shameful and unprecedented failure.