adminIn a telephone interview from Harare yesterday, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said it was expensive to run courses as they had a limited pool of instructors to conduct clinics.
“Ever since Ben Kouffie left the instructors’ structures we are very thin. With the Caf people we have, we hope to train more instructors starting in July so that we plug out situations where one person is the teacher, examiner and instructor. We need more resource people,” said Mashingaidze.
He said the new system would make it possible for them to track all the participants and avoid fast-tracking people.
Some former Warriors coaches and active ones in women’s football are beneficiaries of the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches’ Association fast-track programmes.
There are allegations that Mapeza received four high level coaching certificates including a Caf C Licence within a year.
The Zifa technical director Nelson Matongorere, Gibson Homela and Bennedict Moyo are the three Caf instructors in the country and at one time there was an outcry that the three tended to monopolise all the coaching clinics.
There were also allegations from Zisca that the Zifa technical director was not disseminating information to other coaches on Caf instructors’ courses that were being held in other parts of Africa.
Mashingaidze said after the on-going audit, his office would be in a position to recommend people who meet the required criteria for Caf instructors’ courses.
“What people must realise is that the more we train people the better it becomes in terms of workload. We have to ensure that there is continuity by affording others opportunities to go for courses.
“These courses will benefit club owners, administrators, coaches as well as referees’ instructors. Look, if some monopolise offices it leads to half-baked products. There are some young referees for example who are thrown in the deep end because they have been fast-tracked and that leads to corruption. Those are things we do not want in our football,” said Mashingaidze.
Some of the country’s administration instructors include Fifa Futuro Three regional instructor Kennedy Ndebele who is also the Premiership chief executive officer, ex-Highlanders secretary-general Nhlanhla Bahlangene Dube, Elizabeth Langa, Richard Maseko and Eusebio Nleya-
Maseko.
In the referees’ structures, there are the likes of Wilfred Mukuna and Gladmore Muzambi with retired referee Tabani Mnkantjo expected to break into the system soon.
Mnkantjo has twice attended coaching courses in England.
Medical practitioners Nick Munyonga and Edward Chagonda are football medicine instructors.
“There is a document that we are working on with Munyonga so that we have a programme to enlighten clubs on the importance of having qualified doctors on their benches. Teams should do away with instances where the team medic only has a two-litre container of water to use to administer injured players,” Mashingaidze said.
Bongani Ndlovu