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Paul Mundandi Sports Reporter
THE battle for the leadership of one of Harare’s top sports clubs, Alexandria, has exploded amid some backroom manoeuvres by some to position themselves to become the club’s leaders at elections set for the end of the month. Enock Jokomo, who was ousted from his position as club president at an extraordinary meeting, has reportedly bounced back into his position as part of boardroom politics for the control of the club which has some of the best football, cricket, tennis and bowling facilities in the country.
Alex have one of the best bowling teams in the country but, instead of that being a source of pride for the club members, it is a source of deep divisions.
There are some members who feel that the club’s management have been reduced to be mere supervisors of the other sections of the club like football, squash, cricket and rugby and are powerless when it comes to dealing with the bowling wing.
Others also feel there is an element of racism in the way the club operates as its white members are predominantly members of the bowling club and rarely interact with their football counterparts who are predominantly black.
“The bowling members run their own island here,” said a member when The Herald paid the club a visit yesterday.
“They have their own wing, which has their own bar and all the other stuff and the interaction with their black fellow members is only when there is a meeting and voting for positions.
“We have a management which should be overally in charge of the club, the entiure club, but these guys only supervise what happens in the football section, the squash section and, to some extent, the rugby section.
“This has created two clubs based at one place and the bowlers run their own affairs and the other wings run their own affairs when it should ordinarily be one club under one management.
“Of course, there are some black bowlers but they are just about one or two and it’s sad that, after all these years after Independence, you get a feeling that we are operating along racial lines and the management don’t have any power to correct this anomaly.”
And, then, there is also the issue of leadership.
“Most of our so-called leaders are off-shore individuals who rarely come to the club but have perfected the art of ensuring that they win the elections,” said another member.
“Once they win elections, they disappear from the scene, don’t even contribute to the club by purchasing what the club sells to sustain itself.
“The wing that is used by the majority of blacks, who are members of the football section, closes at 10.30pm and the wing that is used by the majority of the white members, the bowling section, can close as and when they feel they want to go home. A lot is going on here my friend.
“The former president Jokomo was removed from his post a few months ago but we hear that no official communication was passed to him because some people, who run the day-to-day activities at the club, don’t agree with that decision and that has brought up a lot of confusion ahead of the elections.
“We can provide you with a dossier if you want of what is happening here and you can write a story that can send shockwaves around the country that this is happening now in Zimbabwe.”
Club manager, Michio Mutunze, dismissed that there were problems at Alex.
“Who sent you? There is no racism here except that the whites here want to play bowling which most of the blacks can’t play. We are actually going to be holding elections this and members who want to contest are free to come,” said Mutunze.
Online Reporter