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EIGHT months after Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry dissolved Sport and Recreation Commission board, a new team, led by renowned lawyer and sports enthusiast, Gerald Mloshwa, was yesterday appointed to lead the country’s supreme sports regulatory body.
The other members include top urological surgeon, Allen Chiura, who lived and practised in the United States for 30 years before returning home seven years ago to set up his practice, entrepreneur Karen Mutasa, former Zimbabwe Rugby Union vice president Collen de Jong, football administrator Nigel Munyati and veteran sports administrator Titus Zvomuya.
Prince Mupazviriho’s appointment as the SRC director general has also been confirmed.
Acting Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kazembe Kazembe announced the appointment of the new SRC board in a statement yesterday.
“As the Acting Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, with the approval of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and on behalf of the Minister, I have the great pleasure to announce the new SRC Board,’’ Kazembe said in a statement.
“This board was appointed in line with the terms of Section 5 of the Sport and Recreation Commission Act Chapter 25:15 and will take effect from the 1st of June 2019.
“I wish the SRC Board all the best in their endeavours and look forward to our sports rising back to being in the top.’’
The new board will replace the one that was led by Edward Siwela, which was dissolved by Coventry in September last year, in a decision that was roundly praised as one of the major steps towards redressing the shortcomings that have left Zimbabwean sport stagnant for years.
The other board members were Lilian Mbayiwa. John Falkenburg, Keith Goddard, Clemence Mukwasi, Titus Zvomuya, Nicholas Vingirai and Joseph Mungwari.
Critics accused that SRC board of pursuing agendas, rather than concentrating on issues that would drive Zimbabwean sport forward, and hailed its dissolution as an important step in moving forward.
For national sporting associations to operate efficiently, and in a professional manner, they have to take a cue from the SRC, but reports that an audit firm had raised the red flag on the ability of the SRC to survive, as a going concern, painted a gloomy picture of the state of sport in the country.
Among the SRC’s objectives are to coordinate, control, develop and foster the activities of sport and recreation in the country.
But the previous board let itself get sucked into personality clashes involving a number of associations, notably football, cricket, rugby and handball and its dissolution was welcomed by many who felt fresh faces were needed for a change of direction and to take sport in the right direction.
Now that a new SRC leadership has been appointed, we expect to see them wasting no time to get going and start executing their responsibilities.
There is reason for us to be hopeful.
After all, we have men and women who have written success stories in the respective fields they have been involved in with Mlotshwa no stranger to domestic sport after he played a leading role in helping Zimbabwean rugby.
Of course, there is the background of the other role he also played, as the lawyer of Heath Streak, in his legal challenge against Zimbabwe Cricket over what he felt was an unfair dismissal in the wake of the Chevrons failure to qualify for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
There will be concerns, in some quarters, that Mlotshwa could now use his new position of authority to continue those battles with the ZC leaders, but we know that, as a leading lawyer, he can see the difference between representing a client and being handed the national responsibility to lead an organisation like the SRC.
That is why we have confidence in the new SRC boss that he will serve the interests of Zimbabwean sport, first, and not be swayed by the past and all the baggage it might carry, and we will not lured into the camp of those who are already crying foul on social media forums.
After all, this is about teamwork and we have a lot of individuals on that board who are very professional and will always fight for what is in the interest of the development of Zimbabwean sport.
Board member Chiura might not be a common name in the local sports industry, but his CV makes impressive reading and shows he is a very professional man.
“Dr Allen Chiura is a Zimbabwe-born urological surgeon who lived and practised in the United States for 30 years. He returned to Zimbabwe in 2012 to open his urology practice and to facilitate the training of young surgical sub-specialists at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Zimbabwe,’’ reads a post on the Pan-African Urological Surgeons Association website.
“Dr Chiura attended St George’s College in Harare, his BS and MA degrees in Developmental Biology at The American University; he went on to complete his medical education at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and then served as a Urology Resident at Howard University Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was chief resident.’’
The first mission for the new SRC board would be to put their house in order.
After all, as noted by the auditors last year, the SRC cannot continue to survive on Government grants and it needs a board that leads it on a path to self-sustainability by venturing into diverse business and revenue-generating initiatives with collection of levies and sponsorship deals major factors.
Online Reporter