Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE ZIFA Eastern Region will either have a new leader in Special Matarirano or will continue for the next five years with Wisdom Simba as its chairman, and it is only in Masvingo on Sunday when that decision will be made.
Gray Hama is coming in as the new vice-chairman after being uncontested on the list of candidates vying for different posts within the regional football administration body.
Interim vice-chairman, Patient Dube, and secretary-general, Benjamin Chindima’s names are not part of the list.
Masvingo, Mashonaland East, and Manicaland constitute the Eastern Region. Five names were on the list of those vying for the available four board members’ posts – Mollen Makumbe, Stefani Masina, Onismas Nyikadzino, Simbarashe Mandishona, and Rodgers Banda.
The Women’s Football Eastern Region has only one candidate, long-serving Masvingo-based chairperson, Rosemary Muzvidziwa, while the vice-chairperson post went undeclared.
The Women’s Football Eastern Region administration has Victor Sanyangore and Winfreda Chagweda as uncontested board members.
But it is Simba, a veteran football administrator, and Matarirano, who are vying for the top spot, with both candidates bringing their unique strengths and experience to the table.
A former Buffaloes FC defender, Simba, who boasts of having lured corporate partnership to the league for the first time since its inception in 2001, started his football administration career in 2004 as the Buffaloes FC treasurer and later became the secretary.
He joined the ZIFA Eastern Region league executive in 2007 as fixtures secretary, and rose through the ranks to become secretary general in 2013.
In an interview, Simba said: “I am standing in for the elections to be held this weekend, and what motivated me to contest is the fact that I have gone through the mill.
“In my short stint as the acting chairman, I have seen that I really need to do more. Since the inception of the league in 2001, it did not have a corporate sponsor, but now I boast of having Pacific Cigarette brand on board. With the coming in of the sponsor, we have managed to spruce up quite a number of stadia in the region.
“We are currently faced with the upgrading of Tongogara Stadium. Work is underway, turf is going to be planted soon, fence erected, changing rooms have since been completed and the water tanks are already there.
“I have targeted a number of venues that I feel together with the assistance of the sponsor have some facelift we are good to go. I still need time to finish what I started,” explained Simba in an interview with a Masvingo-based publication.
On the other hand, Matarirano brings a fresh perspective to the table, with a strong passion for football and a desire to drive change in the Eastern Region Soccer League.
His campaign promises to revamp the league and bring in new ideas, have resonated with many stakeholders, making him a formidable opponent for Simba.
This weekend’s elections are expected to be a closely contested affair, with an electoral college consisting of 24 members from across the region eligible to vote.
The outcome is far from being certain.
