adminBothwell Mahlengwe
LAST weekend was a black one for all the soccer-loving Zimbabweans. On Saturday broadcaster Chengetai Ditima died.
Then on Sunday, it was the elimination of the Warriors from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations by little Tanzania in the preliminary round.To say the least, my heart broke.
On Saturday I was in mourning. On Sunday I was angry. Come Monday I was powerless. Our worst fears had come true.
At least, two years without international football.
That’s a national disaster.
People from different walks of life have varying views about what should be done to save our beloved game.
They range from firing Zifa president Cuthbert Dube to firing chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and dissolving the whole Zifa Board.
Some quarters are calling for the resignation of the technical team.
Others are pushing for junior football development.
My analysis is that our football is on its deathbed with opportunistic infections cropping up at every opportunity.
What our football needs at the moment is to focus on the main cause of the illness. Then we move on to treat the opportunistic infections.
My take is that the Zifa leadership is the main cause of the stunning decay of our national game.
All the other issues are just opportunistic infections cropping up.
So we need to focus all of our energies at getting the right leadership at Zifa House.
It goes without saying that Cuthbert Dube, as the president of the association, has failed all who believed in him.
But, having said that, what do we do in the current scenario to find a way to go forward?
I have asked people one big question and I haven’t got a satisfactory answer. Who does Dube reports to? Who is he accountable to? I had to go the new ZIFA Constitution (amended and ratified on 28th September 2013) and found out that the Congress (ZIFA Council) is the supreme body of ZIFA.
It has, among its many responsibilities, the mandate to elect the Executive Committee (ZIFA Board) whose composition includes among other members the president.
So, naturally, the President chosen by the same Congress should report to this supreme body.
Article 22 stipulates that “The Congress (The ZIFA Council) has the authority of(l) admitting, suspending and expelling a Member and (n) dissolving ZIFA.”
And a Member is defined as “legal or natural person that has been admitted into membership of ZIFA by the Congress.”
Given this, it would seem that the Congress can expel any member of the Zifa Board, including its president.
But Dube is the chairman of this Congress which, effectively, means that it’s very unlikely that the same body will move to remove its leader, especially just a few months
Who among the ZIFA councillors would dare challenge Dube, just a few months after they elected him as president?
It’s not every day that you have courageous and honourable individuals like Dr Regis Dzenga who sometime back walked out of ZIFA (and regrettably football all together) when he felt the direction the Association was taking did not support the values he subscribes to.
On Monday, I watched Media Watch on ZTV and a gentleman by the name Albert Chekai summarised his solution to our football woes — “Government should ban ZIFA, we get banned by FIFA, we restrategise.”
I thought this was too radical.
In Wednesday’s edition of The Herald, Leslie Gwindi strongly advocated the same.
Now, I subscribe to this radical idea.
We have nothing much to lose, except the little support we have been getting from FIFA — which is yet to be accounted for because we are yet to see the audited financial statements.
On Sunday, among the Warriors’ supporters, we had the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Andrew Langa, and Senior Minister (and also ZANU PF National Chairman) Simon Khaya Moyo.
They witnessed first-hand the agony and pain the nation felt when the Warriors bowed out of the Nations Cup in the preliminary round in our backyard — our worst performance in more than three decades.
Would their presence on this fateful day count for nothing?
We know they have their people at heart. They are our fathers and mothers. They have acted when they felt we were being abused. I trust they will take action and bring back smiles to the faces of the multitudes of their people.
This nation deserves more on the football front. It’s a game multitudes love, an important part of their livelihoods, one that help them take the stress away from the daily challenges this nation is facing.
To allow football to become one of the challenges, which has to stress people, is just not right.
Even God created the world in six days but on the seventh he rested.
The first step, in my humble opinion, towards rehabilitation for our football is to change the leadership at ZIFA and then all the other initiatives will follow.
Barry Manandi told the nation on Game Plan on ZTV on Monday night that “the giant called the Warrior is dead.”
Veteran broadcaster and commentator, Charles Mabika, was, as usual, diplomatic saying the Warrior is not dead by “lying prostrate,” and will one good day wake up to take his place in international football.
Whatever the case, we want our giant back. My fellow Arsenal supporter, Newton, advocated for a Twitter #BringBackOurWarriors campaign.
It is expected to get more than two million signatures.
Mine would be first.
Bothwell Mahlengwe is a banker and a former Premiership footballer and can be contacted, for feedback, on [email protected]
Online Reporter