COMMENT: Zifa needs new calibre of councillors

THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) on Tuesday suspended the Zifa board led by Felton Kamambo over a litany of charges ranging from gross incompetence to sexual abuse of female referees.

The suspension was arrived at after extensive consultations and further deliberations on matters relating to the governance and management of football in Zimbabwe in accordance with the SRC Act.

The decision was considered following what the SRC said were several incidents of gross incompetence on the part of Zifa and such conduct and/or omissions were contrary to the national interest, as provided for in terms of Section 30(i)(c) of the SRC Act.

When news broke that the SRC had cracked the whip, a number of Zifa critics were naturally excited and celebrated the decision. Kamambo and his crew did a lot of things which left Zimbabweans wondering if they were really serving the interests of the nation.

The Zifa constitution was being wantonly violated yet it was business as usual for the association. Zifa vice-president Gift Banda was controversially suspended just days into office for calling for a forensic audit of the Zifa books, even though the association hid behind abuse of office after Banda allegedly made technical changes to the national teams.

Whatever reasons led to his suspension, Banda ought to have been fairly tried before a disciplinary committee, but that never happened and it continues to be business as usual.

Some members of the Zifa Referees Committee were accused of sexually harassing female referees, but instead of instituting investigations, Zifa chose to do nothing and instead sidelined the referees it suspected of raising the issue.
Zifa is probably its own worst enemy and clearly brought this misfortune on itself.

Be that as it may, was it really a wise move by the SRC to suspend the Zifa board just two months before the Africa Cup of Nations Cup finals?

We hope SRC has a water-tight case to present to Fifa in defence of its decision to suspend the Zifa board. A lot is definitely wrong with our football and this decision must ensure lasting solutions are found.

All charges raised against Zifa are true, but it’s how the SRC articulates its position to Fifa that will map the way forward. Whatever decision Fifa comes up with, whether Zimbabwe is suspended from all international football or not, problems enveloping our football must now be tackled.

We can’t go on complaining about known problems and yet doing nothing. Football belongs to the masses, but this current Zifa board had personalised it and took no advice at all.

Development grants from Fifa have not been used for their intended purpose, as grassroots football is virtually non-existent.

Women’s football is non-existent, but the Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League chairperson sits on the Zifa board.
In fact, once the Cosafa Women’s championships end, that literally marks the end of Zimbabwean women’s football.

We are probably the only country in Cosafa that assembles a national women’s team from no league.

We do the same with the juniors since the collapse of junior leagues nationally. This is where the Zifa council should come in.

The Zifa council calls itself domestic fooball’s parliament, but it never says a word in between the elective congresses.
It’s like they believe their only duty is to vote in the Zifa board and nothing else.

Yet these are people that wield so much authority to stop the rot at the national association without the involvement of the SRC.

Zifa needs a new calibre of councillors that will work for the development of football and not mere voters.

These councillors come from area zones right up to regions and they ought to be in a better position to judge that things are not going right.

Removing the board alone is not enough because whoever takes over will still have to deal with the same councillors.

Let’s man up and confront the challenges that are destroying our football and become a competitive national team like we were in the 1990s and early 2000s.

We hope the suspension of the Zifa board by the SRC was purely for footballing reasons and not anything else.