Bosso boss denied visa

level seminar on youth academy during this year’s sixth edition of Winstar soccer international tournament which started yesterday and ends tomorrow in that country.
The office could not give reasons or details for refusing Ndlela the visa, although speculation is rife that the Canadians chose to stoop so low as to use politics in sports.
In the past, Highlanders has been bailed out by political stalwarts. In April this year, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Obert Mpofu, came to the rescue of the club when he cleared the debt owed to former coach Mohamed Fathi that had seen some of the club’s property being attached by the messenger of court. Another top politician Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube is a known beneficiary of the club.
“I am really shocked that the Canadians would behave like this. My reasons for travelling to their cold country were clear and even my hosts there, First Mobile Sports Academy, wrote to their embassy giving them the reasons but they still refused,” said Ndlela.
He said he would soon be engaging the relevant authorities to find out whether it was in his personal capacity or as Highlanders chairman that a visa was denied him, when he was on a sporting visit and nothing else.
A letter from First Mobile Sports Academy to the Canadian embassy clearly states the reasons for the Highlanders chairman’s visit.
“This refers to the denial of a temporary resident visa to Canada for the Highlanders Football Club chairman we invited and hoped to host at this year’s sixth edition of Winstar soccer international tournament to be held from the 14th of December to the 16th of the same month 2011.
“Our intention to invite him was to strengthen our soccer ties with them after having signed a soccer MoU which basically would have seen our young talented Canadian youth annually going for professional soccer attachment in Zimbabwe with Highlanders FC in summer for toughening up and we still do not understand the reasons given to deny a genuine sport figure to our country without even verifying with us or the tournament organisers,
“Highlanders Football Club is a very big soccer club and it produced high level international soccer legends like Liverpool’s greatest goalkeeping legend Bruce Grobelaar who played there and in Canada. That is the reason why we chose them. We are an academy based in Quebec and have successfully represented Canada in very big international youth tournaments like the Gothia Cup in Sweden, Dana Cup in Denmark and Glasgow Cup in Scotland and we still do not understand how and why we can fail to host one person after successfully taking care of young players in foreign countries.
“We are the leading academy in Quebec in sending kids for scholarships in universities in the USA. We were really looking forward to the challenges of producing more talented professionals for our national teams and our association with Highlanders was going to help,” wrote the academy to the embassy.
However, the embassy would not budge, choosing instead to respond by stating some of the reasons why a person can be denied a visa, a criteria which was clearly met on the application, although part of it seems to be touching on political lines.
Some of the reasons are the applicant’s travel history, the reason for travelling to Canada, the applicant’s financial means for the trip.
It is the applicant’s ties to his or her country of residence that has political connotations which is raising eyebrows.