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Ishemunyoro Chingwere Sports Reporter
ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze has described as nonsense moves to jettison him from the soccer governing body.
Some disgruntled Zifa board members are said to be secretly meeting to decide what course of action to take against Mashingaidze, whom they accuse of undermining their authority.
Mashingaidze says he is aware of the “nonsense” and insists he will not be deterred from executing his mandate at Zifa House.
It has emerged that the Zifa board is divided into two distinct camps: one pro-Mashingaidze and the other anti him.
Association president Cuthbert Dube, Premier Soccer League chair Twine Phiri, Fungai Chihuri and John Phiri believe Mashingaidze is on point.
However, Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, women’s football boss Miriam Sibanda and Tawengwa Hara insist the Zifa chief executive has become “big-headed” because of his close association with Dube.
Zifa board member (finance) Bernard Gwarada is known to be frustrated by Mashingaidze, but is understood to be against the idea of pushing his former ally out.
Gwarada told Dube during a recent board meeting that his efforts to gain access to Zifa’s bank accounts were being stalled by Mashingaidze’s “inaction”.
The board member produced “dozens” of emails he sent to the Zifa chief executive “requesting crucial information” which he is yet to access.
Dube is said to have promised to look into the matter and suggested a clear-the-air meeting between Mashingaidze and Gwarada.
Board members who spoke to The Sunday Mail say they are alarmed at the rate at which they are being sidelined by the Dube-Mashingaidze alliance.
They argue that their quest to develop the game is being suffocated by Mashingaidze’s continued “electioneering mood”.
“The way this guy goes about his duties is appalling, to say the least. First and foremost, he has personal issues with some stakeholders and those have been turned into association issues. Football is paying dearly for his unwillingness to bury the hatchet with people he has had differences with in the past.
“Secondly, his level of insubordination is sickening. We hold our meetings and leave some decisions pending only for us to read in the media a few days later that such and such a decision has been made, and that cannot continue to go unchecked,” said a board member who declined to be named as Dube barred them from speaking to the media.
But Mashingaidze is not short of support.
“I have heard that he has ruffled a few feathers, but to be quite honest with you I just can’t understand what his crime is. The problem we have is most of the people who are pushing that agenda are new to national football dictates.
“This idea that we have people disowning the association’s decisions simply because they absented themselves from meetings is primitive,” said a Zifa board member.
Zifa vice-president Sibanda found himself in the eye of a storm last week after distancing himself from the decision to appoint junior national team coaches.
Sibanda appeared to accuse the Zifa secretariat of making the decision unilaterally.
However, the Zifa spin doctors say Sibanda is bound by resolutions made at a meeting chaired by Dube and attended by Twine Phiri, John Phiri, Chihuri and Gwarada.
Through it all, Mashingaidze is unperturbed.
“I am tired of this nonsense, I think you should talk to the president (Dube) so that he can put all this talk to rest,” said Mashingaidze.
Repeated efforts to contact Dube were fruitless as his mobile phone was either unreachable or went unanswered for the better part of last week.
Online Reporter