Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS chairman Johnfat Sibanda says the club’s structures are too solid for one to hastily implement dreams they harbour while outside the club’s leadership structures.
Sibanda, who took over the chairmanship from Kenneth Mhlophe in March after winning a closely contested election by 154 votes to 149, faced journalists at the club offices for the first time since his election.
Asked about how his seven weeks in office have been he said: “It’s been exciting. I am happy to say I joined a very vibrant team and I have just jelled in. I will try and find out what has been happening and also come up with my new ideas if ever needed. That’s exactly where we are. The train is moving, we are working hand in glove.
“It’s not easy out there to look for means of survival for the team because of Covid-19. As the executive team, we are aware of the task ahead due to Covid-19 and we all know that the corporate world is nowhere to be found, but we are working.”
Sibanda made a lot of promises in his campaign manifesto and when asked to give time frames for their implementation, he was evasive.
“Let’s talk about me as the Highlanders chairman. Before the elections I was Johnfat, now I am the chairman, I talk through a system. I can only talk on things that I am mandated to talk on. I lead an executive committee that tells me what to do and how to do it. It is difficult to compare a Johnfat, who was campaigning, to a Johnfat, who is now an executive member. What I am saying here is what I am mandated to say as an executive chairman. I am here at Highlanders now, I talk as the chairman and say what I am mandated to say not what I said as an individual.
“Here is one thing that we have to appreciate about Highlanders; there is a structure that you have to follow. You do not come here and make your own structures, there is a process that you follow. Things that you dream of outside the executive you can only do them through a process, not alone. Your dream can always be driven through a system,” Sibanda said.
Quizzed on his statements soon after winning elections that the club had been freed from capture and returned to its owners, Sibanda said: “If I said it as Johnfat then I do not know what you are talking about. Here I am Highlanders chairman, not Johnfat.”
He said they hadn’t encountered any hostility in their “meet the stakeholders” initiative, which saw some members of the executive meeting various stakeholders in their quest to source funds for the club.
“Highlanders’ people love their team; we love our team. We have not met anyone who is hostile among the people that we have talked to,” said Sibanda. – @innocentskizoe
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