Online Reporter
PROMINENT Harare lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa and his board have completed their tenure at the Sports and Recreation Commission having served the regulated maximum of two terms at the sport regulatory body. Zimpapers Sports Hub’s Petros Kausiyo caught up with Mlotshwa to review the half dozen years between 2019 and 2025 which they spent in charge of national sport and what needs to be done to grow the industry.
Q: How would you describe your tenure at the SRC?
A: Insightful. We got to understand truly the way sport is administered in the country, from a ministerial, regulatory and (as the SRC) at an operational level. We also got to appreciate how sport is regulated from an international perspective.
Ultimately, we 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, among 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.
Q: How would you compare your first term and the Second and final one?
A: We got off to a flying start in our first term only to be derailed by Covid. Like the rest of the country and Government, I think we handled that era fairly well. Our second term’s most visible endeavour from a public perspective was cleaning up ZIFA.
So, in short, you could say the first term was characterised by Covid-19 and second term by ZIFA.
Q: What would you reckon to have been the major highs for your board in the last six years?
A: Quite frankly, our greatest highlight was seeing our then Minister, Kirsty Coventry, being elected as president of the IOC.
You must know that during our tenure I was in frequent, if not daily communication with her; we are good friends — so being part of a board that she selected and then witnessing her IOC journey — that was simply a one-in-a-million experience.
Guiding ZIFA in its governance turnaround and its resultant elections earlier was another highlight for us. It vindicated the board’s insistence on reform within ZIFA.
Then of course, right at the end of our tenure, cricket, after more than two decades, finally played test cricket against England at Trent Bridge. Given the journey that we had travelled with cricket: from acrimony to harmony . . .
Q: And what about the low points?
A: Personally, for me it was the deaths of Heath Streak (former Zimbabwe Cricket coach and captain) and Aaron Jani (ex-Zimbabwe Rugby Union president), both from cancer in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
Q: What do you see as having been the biggest challenges faced by the SRC in terms of executing their mandate as a sport regulatory body?
A: The SRC needs to be adequately resourced financially in order to execute its mandate properly. Sport is a business.
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 the treasury.
The current structure means that too often it is competing for the same pool of resources allocated to its parent ministry. Priorities are not always aligned in this respect. That needs to change otherwise, eventually, the SRC will end up just being a small department within the Ministry.
Q: You left at a time when the SRC managed to inspire a reform process at ZIFA, do you think football has now successfully turned the corner from its ugly past?
A: The SRC managed to ensure that the standard was raised in so far as electoral candidates for ZIFA were concerned.
Reprobates aiming for office will think twice after the last process sieved out obvious miscreants from amongst the candidates.
Never again will that sport be run by a semi-literate person. The foundation has been established for ZIFA to establish football as a viable career option in this country.
Q: What has been the secret behind SRC getting the majority of the associations to comply with the statutory regulations?
A: Once sports associations knew that they wouldn’t get certain authorisations like tours, etc, from SRC without being fully compliant, they started to, literally, play ball.
Q: Local sport continues to be severely hampered by lack of infrastructure, what has the SRC done to help in that regard?
A: Unfortunately, the SRC has little say in the running of sports infrastructure in this country. That’s the purview of local authorities and the Ministry of Sports itself. Ideally, in my view at least, all sports infrastructure of whatever nature should fall under the direct statutory control and authority of the SRC.
Overseeing a rugby stadium may not be a local authority’s priority, but it would certainly be a priority for the SRC, for example.
Q: You were keen to see the integrity bill being passed by parliament, what is the latest development with respect to that?
A: Again, it’s a matter of priorities. The task of formulating the bill from inception should have been given to the SRC, as the entity at the coal face of sports regulation in the country.
This did not happen. I hope that the incoming board insists on this.
Q: How has the absence of the law on integrity affected the SRC’s work and the bid to enforce the tenets of ethical conduct and integrity across the local sporting ecosystem?
A: If a sport is not well governed it will fail commercially. Just like any business. The absence of an integrity bill setting statutory standards for the behaviour of athletes and administrators alike in sport will continue to impact negatively on the sector.
Q: As you wave goodbye to the SRC, what would you pick out to be the stand-out legacies that your board leave for Zimbabwean sport?
A: Zero tolerance for lack of governance in sport. I think that our board walked the talk on that one. And long may the example we set, even from within the ranks of the SRC itself, prevail.
Q: Does your departure from the SRC mean a complete loss to sport of the expertise that the men and women on your board provided over the last half-dozen years?
A: The entire board has always been involved in sport and will continue to be involved in sport. The SRC Act and regulations state that once you have been appointed to the board you cannot, for example, remain in office at the national association level. A number of us had to relinquish such positions as a result.
However, we will continue to be involved in the many disciplines we love. The insight and experience we have gained during our time at the SRC, we will impart to those organisations we are closest to.
Peter Tanyanyiwa