I haven’t decided yet, says Jere

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter—
CAPS United president Farai Jere has revealed that he has been receiving overwhelming requests from the football fraternity to consider standing for the ZIFA presidency, when domestic football elects its new leader on December 5. The Harare businessman’s name has been thrown into the hat, in the race to succeed Cuthbert Dube, in the past two weeks but Jere has kept his silence, choosing instead to concentrate on his role at CAPS United where he is the majority shareholder.

But, yesterday, Jere broke his silence and told journalists in Harare, at a weekly media briefing that is held by the Green Machine, that the requests he has been receiving from the football family, for him to stand for the ZIFA presidency, has been overwhelming.

However, Jere said he hasn’t made up his mind yet as he was still consulting widely with his business colleagues, family members and friends whom he feels should have an input in whether or not he plunges into the race. Although yesterday’s media conference had been set by CAPS United for the club to introduce businessman, Nhamo Tutisani, who acquired 20 percent stake in the Green Machine, it was dominated by questions related to the ZIFA presidency.

Jere traded 20 percent of his stake at CAPS United to Tutisani, as CAPS United showcased their stunning transformation into a football franchise that is now attracting investors, just a few months after the four-time league champions appeared to be heading into disintegration.

The Harare giants appeared set to collapse, earlier this year, weighed down by a crippling debt and unrest among their players, amid serious concerns among their fans that the Green Machine could fail to complete this season.

However, all that dramatically changed when Jere acquired an 80 percent stake in the club, after striking a deal with his long-time partner, Twine Phiri, to convert debt into equity, and a substantial injection of funds into the club has not only brought stability but has seen the club now attracting new investors.

Jere’s long-term vision is to take CAPS United onto the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and, in converting the company from a private enterprise into a public one, he says he understands that there is a possibility that it could reduce his stake in the shareholding at the club should investors find that the club offers them an appealing investment portfolio.

The Harare businessman, who believes that “owning 10 percent of something significant is better than owning 90 percent of nothing,” says he remains committed to making a big difference at CAPS United. Yesterday, his media conference was dominated by questions related to the ZIFA presidency, and Jere said while he had been inundated with requests from the football family to consider running for the top post, he was yet to make up his mind.

Not at the moment. I have never thought of that. To tell you the truth, I am quite busy, I am very busy,” Jere told journalists. “Yes, of course, I have been approached by a lot of people about that story. But I still haven’t made my decision but I can confirm to you that the requests from people who want me to take that position is overwhelming.

“Every time, I pick up the phone, it is someone saying we want you to come and help us put structures into place. “But I haven’t made my decision because I am also looking at the commitment that I have, look I have my aspirations for CAPS United and that alone, takes a lot of my time. I am also at school.

“I am a student at the University of Zimbabwe. I am busy there. You don’t want a situation whereby you fail to make it, I know you guys will be the first to take my result script and put it in the papers and say how could you do this, go to school and fail?”

The CAPS United boss said his plate was full at the moment. “I have a lot of things that I am doing. At the moment my plate is full, I have got a lot of responsibilities,” said Jere.

“Taking up the ZIFA presidency, yes, it is something that is workable, but you also need to look at your time. The time that you need to put into that is very important and that is what I am still considering because a lot of people have approached me.

“This is a national issue, it has been put on your table, and it’s something you didn’t go look out for but has been brought on your table. It is something that a rational person should not quickly say ‘yes or no.’ “You need to look at the pros and cons and what’s in it, obviously, you don’t want to let down people

“I have never been to ZIFA. I have never been a board member. I don’t know what is involved there. So you need to sit down and look at it and also make your own enquiries, your own investigations and what exactly is expected of you.

“You don’t need to get into something blindly. You don’t know what is expected of you. You get into ZIFA and you don’t know what structure you need to put as the president. Everybody would be looking at you. “So there are a lot of considerations that I need to make.”

Meanwhile, CAPS United announced that they will be holding a special corporate engagement dinner on November 27. Club chief executive, Joe Makuvire, said this was part of their efforts to continue making CAPS United a strong brand and they will invite key players in the corporate sector as well as speakers from the business front.

“For the first time, we are going to hold a corporate engagement dinner on 27 November where CAPS United specifically invites players in the corporate sector to interact with the CAPS United brand.

“What is going to happen is that CAPS United will explain its vision to the corporate world. And then CAPS United will present different marketing opportunities, different publicity platforms, different possibilities for partnerships to the corporate world.

“Instead of us moving around explaining our brand, we will come up with a special function where we will invite all people who might be interested in the CAPS United brand, presently or in the future, to come and interact with the entire CAPS United family at corporate level, at management level, at technical level, at players’ level, and for them to identify possible opportunities that their companies can explore and exploit within CAPS United.

“Why, this re- engagement?
“It is an announcement that as CAPS United we are moving to greater heights. We have moved from the Dark Ages, we have seen the light and we are exploring our vision. In exploring this vision, we believe necessary and critical partnerships will participate in our vision.”