Dube appeals for votes

Petros Kausiyo and Augustine Hwata
CUTHBERT Dube believes he has laid a strong platform for the growth of Zimbabwean football and has passionately appealed to the Zifa assembly to grant him another mandate to administer the country’s biggest sport when they converge in Harare tomorrow to elect a new board for the association.
Dube will face off against challengers Trevor David Carelse-Juul, Harare City chairman Leslie Gwindi and board member marketing Nigel Munyati when the 58 Zifa councillors who make up the assembly go to the polls to choose the board and the association’s president at the Zifa Village.

After quietly going about his campaign trail which he said had been targeted at the voting constituency and began last year, Dube yesterday faced the media in Harare to outline his 2014 manifesto and also field some questions pertaining to the elections and the national game.

The 61-year-old Harare business executive, who powered into office following a crushing victory over Gwindi in March 2010, outlined his vision which he said would be premised on more emphasis on junior development, better corporate support, corporate governance integrity, hard work and team work.

Dube said he had during his four-years in office noted that although the expectation was that government would fund national team’s activities, he had been forced to chip in with his personal resources because “of the financial constraints confronting our Government’’.

The incumbent Zifa boss also remained confident that he would sweep to victory again.
“When voters choose the new executive for the new board, they must choose wisely.

“All that we have done can come to naught if we are not careful. The voters need to be careful because at this level you need people who can engage into business discussion when they got to Fifa and Caf,’’ Dube said.

Dube also dismissed as nonsensical allegations from some quarters that he had been involved in vote buying ahead of the elections, insisting that the football family would judge him on the work that he has started and would want to complete if give another term.

“I still have work to complete and I want to leave a legacy for our football.’’
The Zifa president also acknowledged that his board had failed in some areas “where we could have done things better’’ but also highlighted the achievements he believed they had scored including, becoming the first board to complete the Zifa Village where he said work had been stalled for nearly a decade before he took over.

“We went through a very tortuous road in the last four years. We found Zifa in a mess, there was no handover-takeover which should happen in a normal business situation.

“We also got constrained by the Asiagate matters which we did not know about before we came and even some of the sponsors that had pledged to come on board before the Asiagate scandal said Cuthbert finish cleaning up the game from this match-fixing scandal then we can come in and help’’.

Dube said he had opted to focus most of his campaigning on the electoral college and had travelled around the country last year to lay the groundwork for his campaign.

“I have done quite a lot of campaigning to the voters themselves. There have been a lot of reports about me including some related to my employers PSMAS and the alleged salaries and some of it is political but I have elected to keep quiet.

“I shall one day speak on that and I also have the right to litigation.
“There have also been allegations that I have held secret meetings with the football constituency in order to buy votes but that is all nonsensical, I do not need to buy votes in order to go into football and then spend more when elected.

“I am still in charge and we are still at work that is why the board is meeting tomorrow (today) to prepare for the annual meeting on Saturday and also discuss other football activities . . . so I am still the president of Zifa and we are at work until elections are held,’’ Dube said.

Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede, who sat beside Dube, and also dispelled rumours claiming that he was Carelse-Juul’s election agent said football was not run like politics.

“Football is not like politics where the parliament is either dissolved or takes recess a month or two before elections. In football you remain the president and the structures remain in place and in fact the board only steps down to hand over to the electoral committee when you reach the item of elections on the agenda,” said Gumede. Dube also said he had delivered on most of the pledges that he made when he campaigned in 2010 and hopes to build on them “now that Asiagate is out of the way and we have also realised that we need to source for more funding than wait for government’’.

If re-elected Dube pledged to expedite the re-introduction of the Zifa Cup, put measures that would guarantee qualification for the 2015 African Cup of Nations, the 2018 World Cup, junior development and put strategies to help the Premier Soccer League become more robust and professional. He also spoke about helping to grow Women’s football and ensuring land and infrastructural development that include construction on of a new home for football and renovations of the Zifa Bulawayo offices. “I will also construct the road that leads to the Zifa Village which is in bad state and that pledge will stand and be fulfilled whether I am re-elected or not,’’ Dube said.