Dube eyes second Zifa term

He said he would run for the soccer mother body’s top post during the 2013 elections though there is a likelihood that the elections could be before the end of this year.
He has become the first official to confirm that he would seek another term to stay with the troubled association.
Speaking at the Zifa Midlands Division 2 awards ceremony held in Gweru at the weekend, Dube’s representative Richard Mutasa said the Zifa boss would only leave office after cleaning up the association.
A number of scandals have hit Zifa over the past years ranging from match-fixing to allegations of vote-buying and biased national team selection.
“There have been calls for Cuthbert Dube to step down and even allegations being levelled against him but he has sent me to tell you he is not going anywhere until Zifa is clean.
“Dube has no intention to leave office anytime soon and will do so when Zifa is clean. Therefore he has thrown his name into the hat (for the 2013 elections) and is inviting interested candidates to come out in the open,” said Mutasa.
The Premier Service Medical Aid Society chief executive officer was ushered into office after beating Leslie Gwindi and Charlie Jones in the March 2010 elections held at the Prince Edward Auditorium in Harare.
Zifa’s woes have not only been restricted to the boardroom and fields but finances are in a bad state.
His confirmation puts to rest speculation that he wanted early elections.
“The scandals such as Asiagate only hurt young players like the Platinum Under-19. In the event that they want to make moves abroad, the country’s ranking will not favour them (a direct reference to the Onesimor Bhasera transfer issue).
“To the administrators while serving football, you do not know any team seeking promotion, you destroy these boys’ soccer careers. We do not want to hear of what has been happening in the past… the Centralgate,” he added.
Mutasa was standing in for the Zifa president who is sponsoring the 10 Zifa provinces’ shields and medals. Dube is in Gabon for the Afcon finals which ended yesterday.
At the function, Platinum Under-19 and Gokwe Warriors received floating shields for winning the Division 2A and 2B leagues respectively while players from both clubs together with their respective runners-up Midlands State University and ZPC Munyati Tigers received medals.