Online Reporter
SPORT has the power to unite nations, build character and drive economic development.
In Zimbabwe, sport also carries the hopes of communities, youth development and national pride.
To unlock this potential, we must, as a nation, strengthen the institutional framework that governs sport — starting with a clear separation of roles between the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).
Many a times there has been some duplication and overlapping of roles to the detriment of the growth of sport.
The ministry’s mandate is policy: Crafting the vision, aligning sport with national priorities and creating an enabling legislative environment.
We believe the SRC, on their part, must be empowered to function as the regulatory and implementing arm of all sport in Zimbabwe.
Globally, successful sports systems are built on this foundation.
Ministries set direction; commissions deliver.
The SRC should have the operational autonomy and legal authority to licence associations, enforce governance standards, and coordinate national participation in regional and international events.
It must also drive talent development from grassroots to elite level.
Currently, the SRC is often under-resourced and caught between high expectations and limited means.
This incapacitation has often pegged the regulatory body in their bid to help take national sport to the levels that we also envisage for this burgeoning global industry that is raking in billions of dollars.
In this country, sport has also proved its huge potential to spur on tourism as has been seen with visiting sportspersons taking time out of their competitions to sample the country’s attractions such as the majestic Victoria Falls.
Even delegations from international sporting federations, which include the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Rugby Africa, who have given Zimbabwe the hosting rights for competitions, have sampled our tourist attractions.
But it is the underutilisation and under-funding of the SRC which needs to be addressed for Zimbabwe to scale the heights that its sport richly deserves.
For instance, if we want to stop lurching from crisis to crisis — from athlete boycotts to governance breakdowns — we must give the SRC the tools to act decisively and professionally.
Capacitating the SRC is not about creating a superstructure. It’s about ensuring that every sporting federation, athlete, and programme is supported and regulated by an institution equipped to do the job. Zimbabwe’s sporting future depends on this structural clarity and investment.
And in our edition earlier this week, outgoing SRC board chairperson Gerald Mlotshwa acknowledged as much as he gave a frank assessment of some of the challenges being faced by the Commission in their bid to execute their mandate.
Mlotshwa revealed that after a half dozen years in charge of the SRC, his leadership “got to appreciate that sport in the modern era is a business, and that like any other business, for it to succeed one needs to, amongst other things, capitalise it adequately’’.
A business starved of investment will always struggle, and ultimately fail, in much the same way that a poorly governed company will struggle.
It is also the considered view of the outgoing board that the SRC needs to be adequately resourced financially in order to execute their mandate properly given that sport is a business, which in this country has also become a key employer.
Sport is also a major vehicle through which Zimbabwe can fight the drug and mental health scourge threatening to tear apart the fabric that binds together many communities across the globe.
And yet as Mlotshwa queried, “you cannot have a situation where the entity charged with ensuring that sport is run along commercially viable lines, is itself perennially struggling for financial resources”.
The SRC needs to be funded directly from Treasury.
Local corporates must also come on board and forge strategic partnerships with the SRC and government in order for the institution to thrive and successfully deliver on the tasks awaiting the Commission.
On their part those within SRC must not rest on their laurels.
It also calls on the Commission to have a vibrant business development department, that operates in sync with the fact that sport is indeed business.
That department would need to lead the way in thinking outside the box, generate income for the survival of the organisation rather than sorely rely on government coffers.
Indeed, sport is a sector that can be turned into a vibrant creative industry but it would also need to be backed by the right human resources with a passion and understanding what sport entails.
It is an industry that takes no prisoners, where there is virtually no room for individuals merely looking for a salary and allowances but one that demands commitment and sacrifice in some instances.
Thus, the SRC must also devise strategies that guarantee the commission’s sustainability and vibrancy.
We believe that with a united front, the SRC can be helped to overcome their challenges and the institution can be a shining example to the national sporting associations registered under them in terms of the Sports Act.
The Commission’s bold stance to enforce compliance and shun corruption has been a stepping stone and more can be done.
And the capacity to achieve such and put in development programmes to promote participation and talent development, is there across all the country’s 10 provinces.
