adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA Eastern Region chairman Piraishe Mabhena believes the investigations and subsequent hearings on the Asiagate scam was a sheer waste of resources as it failed to yield any meaningful results.
Mabhena was among the two board members and a dozen councillors who were recently suspended by under-fire Cuthbert Dube and a clique of sympathisers aligned to Dube.
However, in a major blow to the clique that had been trying to push fellow leaders out of the leadership of domestic football, world football governing body Fifa this week refused to endorse the suspensions.
And Mabhena, one of the regional chairpersons who had also been temporarily booted out, told Post Sport that the ongoing madness at Zifa is a result of sheer lack of corporate governance that abounds in the country’s soccer mother body.
In a wide-ranging interview this week, the Chiredzi-based football administrator said the investigations and subsequent hearings on the Asiagate scam seems to have been initiated to settle personal vendettas other than to cleanse the game of the rot that had allegedly crept in.
He said the Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze has shown all and sundry that he is an enemy of football in this country.
“I think the Asiagate scandal, for example, was a sheer waste of resources and one would be forgiven to assume that the investigations and subsequent hearings were aimed at settling some personal vendettas by some people within the corridors of power in Zifa.
“What did we get from all the investigations and hearings that were conducted? Are we not seeing the same people that were being vilified being asked to return to football? If so, why did we waste all the resources that we put into the investigations and hearings?
“This is a clear indication that we have not been setting our priorities right as an organisation. The biggest problem here is that we have a chief executive (Mashingaidze) who is misleading the president (Dube).
“We have complained about Mashingaidze’s conduct on numerous occasions and even called for his ouster, but somehow the president has inexplicable faith in him. While we thought the president was a good football administrator, as evidence by the work he did during his stint as the Eastern Region chairman, we are forced to blame him for failing to see the bad that Mashingaidze has done to the game. At the end of the day, they are now being painted by the same brush,” he said.
Mabhena said football has the potential to attract sponsorship even in a financially stressed economy but that will not happen as long as the wrong people remain in office.
“Football is a team sport on and off the pitch but the way we are doing business at Zifa is such that the organisation is now being run by a few individuals. Not even the man in charge of finances at board level (Ben Gwarada, Zifa board member finance) is aware of the financial statements of the organisation and one wonders what we are doing.
“One thing that I know is that football in Zimbabwe has a lot of potential to attract sponsorship even in this financially stressed economy, but as long as we the wrong people in office like Mashingaidze we will not get the much needed sponsorship. The guy has done more than enough to prove that he is an enemy of the game in this country.
“Even at regional level, we are now struggling to attract sponsors because the mere mention of the name Zifa sends shivers down the spines of sponsors,’ said Mabhena.
On the way forward, Mabhena said: “I think we need a forensic audit to establish what we have and what we owe. Even the Zifa debt that we continue talking about is based on hearsay. At one point we are told we owe $4 million, the other time its $6 million while others say its $7 million.
“We need to know the exact state of our finances so that we can then chat the way forward and of course with the right people in office, we can start building our football,” he said.
The Zifa Eastern Region chairman said he is happy that the Government through the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture as well as the Sports Commission are monitoring the developments at Zifa with keen interest while cautiously making sure that they do not risk getting the country banned by Fifa.
“I am happy that the Government through the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture as well as the Sports Commission are monitoring the developments at Zifa with keen interest while cautiously making sure that they do not risk getting the country banned by Fifa. I am told they consistently getting guidance from Fifa on where to intervene and where not to.
“Personally, I would not want to have a situation wherein we are banned because we have people who are making a living out of football. We have youngsters that have hope to make a life out of football and the implications of being banned would be catastrophic to them,’ said Mabhena.
Online Reporter