adminLovemore Dube Off The Ball
THERE are two things in the last week that made me a proud resident of this beautiful City of Bulawayo.
The first was the Highlanders annual general meeting held on Sunday.
I found the Warriors’ good run in the not so prestigious though important Chan tournament something to savour.
Bosso are probably the only football club in the Premiership with that level of organisation. They make a fair attempt towards accountability and good corporate governance.
Holding an annual general meeting is something that they have done for decades with ease. For as far as I can stretch my memory there is no single year from the 1970s that an incumbent executive has tried not to hold the meeting.
The meeting is often an opportunity to paid up members to review the club’s performance. It is a chance to end all rumours and get the gospel from the horse’s mouth as the previous year’s performance is reviewed and plans for the coming 12 months spelt out with the involvement of the membership.
I am not saying that all what happens at the meeting is above board. It is up to the members to judge the finances and other deliverables.
But the fact that there are audits done with reputable companies is something worth emulating by all in the sports fraternity. Some national associations who receive big grants from international mother bodies and other revenue from television profits, lack the transparency that Highlanders attempts.
Institutions like Zifa are known to go for years without such, a sure instance for one not to seek re-election.
It is public funds that need to be protected and an annual general meeting is an occasion to demonstrate the will to doing right.
Highlanders deserve to be lauded for their commitment to lead by example something that has been passed from Elijah Ngwane (late), Ndumiso Gumede, Malcom King, Vic Naik, Ernest Sibanda, James Mangwana-Tshuma, Kennedy Ndebele, Themba Ndlela and currently Peter Dube.
However, I have had the opportunity to go through the club’s annual general meeting reports since the 1980s through Macdonald Hall, Stanley Hall to Highlanders Clubhouse. In each of the years a callous position on the club’s finances has been painted and its capability to continue to exist as a going concern.
It appears this has never been given a serious thought. Undoubtedly it has been one of the key issues on social networks with little thought put as to putting the survival of the club as a community team into practice.
In a few weeks’ time what could be left of one community club – Zimbabwe Saints could be its legacy and a few of its people in football administration structures.
Chikwata walked along the same patch of their neighbours, Black Aces and Gweru United but efforts to turn it into a company in which people could invest in, were thwarted by factionalism.
In any set up people will always meet for various reasons. Some want to prosper because of the opportunity presented while others want the legacy of something they founded, or watched being founded or found existing to live on.
Highlanders’ annual general meetings as long as they do not address the issue of the future of the club in this volatile economic times, will just be talk-shows with people with just one common thing – the club meeting once a year to share brilliant ideas or to expose idiocy of high proportions.
Dynamos and Highlanders need to move with the times and find a permanent solution to their fate. It lies in opening up the institutions to investors with the rest continuing to flock to stadia at 3PM to watch games.
That a man can be bought an illicit brew for a dollar, be given another to come and make noise at a meeting does not yield results to sustain these clubs.
Club administrators should travel to other countries and expose themselves at the team’s expense and perhaps they could be the agents of change the clubs desire.
Hopefully with club licensing our Division One and Premier Soccer League clubs including Zifa will have annual general meetings. They will have paid up members of that particular year voting or partaking in activities that the bona fide deserve.
Surprisingly the circus that Zimbabwean football has continued to be, saw clubs that are not affiliated voting for provincial executive members last Saturday.
What if half of the clubs that voted do not play in Division Two and Three leagues after failing to pay the requisite fees, how authentic will the leadership be?
Turning to the Warriors, they made me believe in the talent the country has. Never since the days of great footballers like Ephraim Chawanda, the late Francis Shonhayi, Alexander Maseko, John Phiri, Sunday Chidzambwa, Misheck Chidzambwa, James Takavada, Willard Khumalo, Madinda Ndlovu, the late Stanley Ndunduma, Shaky Tauro, Joel Shambo, Mercedes Sibanda, Oliver Kateya and David Mwanza.
Their performances touched the inner feelings of the soccer followers. They played their hearts out for the pride of Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.
The local players will no doubt be the foundation of the next national team to take part in the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
They were impressive in defence, promising in midfield and could get sharper in attack with the addition of three or so players with power and pace like Cuthbert Malajila, Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona.
My prayer is that when in camp they will be shut out from agents, jujumen and even the “Men of God” so that they do not have undue pressure and concentrate on hoisting the country’s flag higher.
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Online Reporter