Kanyangarara front runner for Byo Rugby post

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
REVERED sports administrator and former Hockey Association of Zimbabwe (Haz) president Kays Kanyangarara is the frontrunner for chairman of the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB) interim committee.

Sources said they expect the seasoned administrator to head the committee tasked with bringing “sanity” to rugby in the city.

Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) is keeping a tight lid on individuals it has approached to take up positions in the interim BMRFB.

ZRU dissolved the BMRFB board led by Craig Change, accusing it of “paralysing the smooth running” of the game in Bulawayo and has written to targeted officials for the interim board and is now awaiting their responses.

Martin Shone, ZRU vice-president (South Region), said names for the interim committee will be revealed once they officially accept the offers.

“What I can tell you is that the board deliberated extensively on the people that were identified for the BMRFB interim committee. We were supposed to announce them during the week, but the delays have been caused by the fact that we are waiting for them to respond to the offers,” said Shone.

Sources said besides Kanyangarara, they expect to see Cheetahs coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba, who has in the past played advisory roles in the province, former chairpersons Theo Weale and Thulani Tabulawa being named.

The sources said ZRU needs to conclude the appointments so that the interim committee starts preparing for programmes after the end of the lockdown.

“By now, the interim committee should have been appointed so that they start to plan a programme of action. Look, someone needs to be on the ground and look at Hartsfield Grounds, see to it that all is well since the last board was asked not to set foot there,” said the source.

The interim committee is expected to conduct an audit.

The interim committee will also set in motion amendment of the constitution to align it with the ZRU, set up “systems” that will ensure whoever is elected into  office, walks into a “straitjacket”.

They will also tackle the Hartsfield Tshisa Nyama deal, whose contract has to be terminated to return the venue to being an exclusively rugby facility.