adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
THE Lifelong Footballers; Trust of Zimbabwe have courted controversy again in their bid to have the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture dissolve the ZIFA board with yet another high-profile figure, Stanley Kudenga, distancing himself from their activities. Banker turned farmer, Kudenga has become the latest figure after Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa to distance himself from a petition prepared and circulated by the trust that is led by controversial former Northern Region chairman Francis Zimunya.
Exactly a month after they dragged the name of legendary former Dynamos and Warriors coach Chidzambwa into yet a failed petition to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Andrew Langa, Zimunya and his movement were this week back at the same ministry with a fresh bid to have the Government fulfil their wishes.
Zimunya was accompanied by Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association communications and public relations officer Paddington Japajapa when they took to the ministry and called on Langa to dissolve Cuthbert Dube’s leadership and replace it with a committee that would include Kudenga.
But the former Dynamos secretary, who also owned the Eagles franchise in the Premiership, hit out at the Lifelong Footballers’ Trust for their penchant with name dropping and maintained that he had never discussed being part of their bid to oust the ZIFA leadership.
Kudenga, who is currently on a business trip to the Netherlands, said from Amsterdam yesterday that he had been taken aback to read that his name was being dragged by Zimunya into the fight which the former Northern Region chairman and his cronies have against the current ZIFA leadership.
Just like Chidzambwa last month, Kudenga said he had never discussed being part of the Lifelong Footballers’ Trust nor any of its structures and activities but had been shocked to find out that the organisation was now peddling his name among a list of administrators they are purportedly lining up to form a shadowy ZIFA board, disguised as a “Normalisation Committee’’.
“I have read an article in the media which says I am a member of a team of voluntary football persons that would wish to replace the current ZIFA board.
“Firstly, I am no member of this supposed committee nor have I met with anyone to discuss this kind of committee and its intentions. As an informed former football administrator, I also know that this kind of initiative and proposed Government intervention would not sit well with FIFA rules and expectations.
“If anything, the people behind this supposed committee should be lobbying Government to help local football administration by providing ZIFA with an annual budget to turn around and stabilise its financial position.
“Secondly, I have no intention of making a return to football administration both in the immediate or foreseeable future. I hope those wishing to get my involvement in local football administration will respect my position and be guided accordingly.
“I thought Zimunya contested and lost in the Zifa elections in the Northern Region?’’ Kudenga said.
The lobby group also included the name of former Premier Soccer League secretary Mwandibhuya Mutepfa, who briefly served as ZIFA board member for development, among their proposed committee but the Kwekwe-based administrator is understood to have also denied any involvement with Zimunya.
Highlanders board member Elkana Dube, former FC Platinum chairman Nathan Shoko, ZIFA electoral committee member Elizabeth Banda and Tonderai Choga, who was a board member under the Leo Mugabe leadership, were also named for the “Normalisation Committee’’.
Former Premier Soccer League chief executive Chris Sambo is also part of the group petitioning the Sport, Arts and Culture Ministry and has been touted to become the chief administrator of the new committee.
Among a host of claims that the LIFTZ made were that:
“The current Zifa board led by Dube has been abusing funds which has seen the debt of the local football mother body ballooning “from US$600 000 to US$7 million” since the Dube-led board took over the reins from Wellington Nyatanga in 2010.
“In line with the allegations, the LIFTZ and the ZNSSA demand that the minister suspends the Zifa board for non-compliance with the laws of the country.
“As a country we need to follow the precedent set by the Cameroonian government which suspended the national football association board for the team’s poor performance at the last World Cup and replaced it with a Normalisation Committee to restructure football and now the positive results are there for all to see. This is what we all need to do in Zimbabwe.
“To remove ZIFA from the murky waters it is in right now, there is need for the minister to appoint a Normalisation Committee to administer and restructure ZIFA. The honourable minister needs to suspend the current ZIFA board as a matter of urgency and replace it with a credible team of dedicated volunteers composed of former players, experienced technocrats and professionals,” read part of the petition.
In distancing himself from the movement, Chidzambwa last month said it was wrong for the movement to claim that he was part of them when he had rejected their attempts to woo him into their corner.
“I see that my name has been mentioned in some newspapers that I signed a petition calling for the dissolution of the ZIFA board,” Chidzambwa said.
“I want to make it very clear that it is not true. What I can confirm is that I was approached at Raylton to put my signature to the petition and I made it very clear to those people that I was not interested in whatever they were pursuing and it’s wrong for them to turn around and say that I am part of them.
“People cannot wake up and say Sunday is part of us, without me putting my signature because I am old enough to make decisions without some people pushing me to do that or pretending that I am part of whatever they are doing.
“I didn’t put my signature on that petition and that should have been the end of their attempts to get me to be part of whatever they are doing and it’s wrong for people to abuse other people’s names simply because they feel those names might carry some weight and could help whatever they want to achieve,’’ Chidzambwa said.
Online Reporter