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Leslie Gwindi
WE all saw what happened and, for some with an introspective eye, saw how it happened.
I was one of you feeling the pain of the exit from African Cup of Nations 2015 in Morocco.
For my age and experience, I know that there is no short-cut to the top in football.
A good organisation (administrative) begets positive results.
That holds true yesterday and still does today.
Those of you who love Manchester United, I know there are many of you, will testify to the fact the 38 trophies won by Sir Alex Ferguson in 26 years (13 league titles and 25 other cups) were possible because there was organisation at Old Trafford.
Need I say more?
At zifa we have none of the above.
This is not about politics or desire to lead.
This is not about Gwindi becoming zifa president, it is about football.
This has ceased to be a game of chess where you can sacrifice any piece to save the castle; it is a national crisis that needs a national focus.
Let me address you guys by reminding you of how Professor Jonathan Moyo ploughed a lone furrow after the zifa elections, criticising the return of Dube to office.
He queried why a well-meaning zifa council would, in all honesty, believe Dube was good enough for another term.
I will ask you today.
What did we think Dube could do in these four years that he failed to do in the last four?
What would one who does not watch a single match know about winning?
Why would a coach without a contract, while being owed more money, suddenly be the guy to take us to the Nations Cup?
As well-meaning citizens of this country, I take a lead in telling the nation that if we have a serious Minister of Sport who knows his resume, he would crack the whip.
He will not offer a hollow apology in the media without taking action against zifa.
What does Minister (Andrew) Langa, expect to get from Dube, who in the past flatly refused to answer to the call from a parliamentary committee?
It defies logic that we have a whole generation of players who have had their careers lost, yet there is no one saying anything.
Do you know that (Knowledge) Musona lost four years of his career already and by the time the opportunity returns after two and half years, the boy would be on the wrong side of 20?
Let us be serious as a nation.
Governments in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and even Germany fired themselves from playing to sort their FAs’ mess but here we fold our hands and let them run everyone roughshod.
But we have to reach a time when we should ask the board to leave office NOW and give football a chance to live again.
Langa should just fire the zifa board and if fifa fight in zifa corner, to suspend the nation from playing, so be it.
After all there is no competition anyway as we will not play competitive football in the next two years.
This is not Gwindi’s war.
It is a national issue.
If government failed to support Prof Moyo in March, they should feel compelled to applaud him now for being a visionary.
Of course, it has not escaped my attention that when we played at our first Nations Cup in Tunisia in 2004, Moyo ran the show from organising and putting organisation into motion from securing tickets, accommodation, fans and securing the scarce foreign currency from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The performance by the team mirrored the board and the coach, too, should not even waste our time trying to explain anything.
There is nothing football at zifa and we need to push to have it back on our menus before we can think of qualifying for Nations Cup.
We have failed enough under this board — six coaches in four years — no qualifications for three editions of the AFCON and two World Cups.
Our Under-17 and Under-20 are serving a three-year ban and our Under-23 cannot compete when Olympics are due because of inactivity.
Kenya was once banned and came back stronger enough to qualify for AFCON 2004.
Only last year, fifa were threatening Tanzania with a ban from all international competitions.
Let us get rid of these guys now so that we can move forward.
There are no easy decisions in football and we need to swallow this mango to induce a change that football family is crying for.
If that is not crisis enough to induce action from Government, then I wonder whether we are sensitive to issues or not.
As always, I retain my unequivocal constitutional right to comment on national issues, so please understand this is not about scoring political points.
Leslie Gwindi is the chairman of Harare City FC, former Premier Soccer League secretary-general, former Dynamos secretary-general and contested in the battle for the Zifa presidency in march this year, his second shot on domestic football’s highest office in four years.
Online Reporter