Let’s have a sport ministry

few exceptions based on extreme individual talent like the case of Kirsty Coventry and a few others. This brings to the point in which there is need to have a stand alone Sports Ministry to enhance sport development in the country.
Most importantly, the Minister, the deputy and the Permanent Secretary will have enough time to make things work and out teams from football to hokey should be given a competitive impetus, like what has happened to tourism. South Africa created the Ministry of Sport and it can easily be seen that its Minister Mr Fikile Mbalula is up to scratch and hands on with the goings on in the South African sports sector. He is truly the face of sport in South Africa, which is what we need in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean sport has been dogged by various controversies, ranging from match fixing, corruption by officials, mismanagement and lack of proper funding. This justifies the need for a whole ministry dedicated to the development of sport and reviving it from the current dustbin it lies.
These are the things that need serious and urgent attention. Zimbabwe needs a Minister who would be at the back of all these sporting associations, such that they would not be given a chance to find time to be involved in match fixing scandals or mismanagement allegations. Problems that are be devilling our local sport teams like Dynamos Football Club, problems that led to the demise of Eiffel Flats, problems that previously rocked the Harare Basketball Union, Cricket in the previous years, to mention but a few, all need or needed serious attention.
It is embarrassing to learn that bogus squads were submitted by controversial and dubious sporting associations to the Zimbabwean team that was to grace the All Africa Games 2011 in Mozambique, and later on went on to perform dismally at the games. Without taking much from those who are in charge of sport at the moment, such things would not have happened if we had a ministry that would be addressing issues of sport on full time basis.
Zimbabweans are now tired of all these scandals and records of mismanagement that have become a culture in local sport, and if left to go on, this will leave nothing but a bad legacy, even for our future leaders in sport.
With the cumbersome nature the education sector it without any doubt the amount of pressure it exerts of the ministry of education, sports, arts and culture, it is highly probable that all these other three departments of the ministry will always be sacrificed as education is and will always be a top priority.
It is a pity that we Zimbabweans now think it is normal for any minister to come and assist various sporting associations in whatever way, which is clear sign that somehow the ministers in charge of sport might be overwhelmed with educational issues and might not be having enough time to attend to sport.
Sport has become a business that is generating billions of revenue annually, the world over, but it’s only in Zimbabwe where it is seen more like a liability to the owners of various sporting teams and government, with teams failing to generate their own incomes only to wait for the government to assist them, and a cue can be taken from South Africa and Zambia which have turned their sporting sectors into a multi-billion dollar industry.
However, this must start with government, and show its seriousness with sport by creating a new sports ministry. At times it does not even matter if there seems not to be enough qualified personnel to man the ministry, if the Mzembi’s and the Chamisa’s are doing wonders in sectors that they are not directly qualified to work in, but are only engineers and political scientists respectively, what would inhibit even Mr Coltart the Current Minister of Education, Arts, Sport and Culture to do the same. Developmental programs of various sporting disciplines in Zimbabwe have been left in the hands of sporting association, for instance cricket, which is practically in the hands of Zimbabwe Cricket.
While it is a good initiative, it is a clear sign that our government has resigned or accepted that they cannot be in charge of certain sporting disciplines hence they have left everything in the hands of these sporting associations. With a sporting ministry, it would mean that the two would complement each other, and with resources being channelled to sport say in national budget allocations it also means that some resources will then be channelled to those areas were these sporting associations are failing to cover. Also it would also mean that where most resources were being channelled to education as it is a major priority, this time resources as mentioned earlier will only be dedicated to sport only. The government had made such efforts, when they created the Sports and Recreation Commission, but the commission has actually failed to live up to its expectations, as some have failed even to understand its role. Its effectiveness has been hampered by lack of resources and experts to implement the programs.
l The writer is an Independent Researcher and Research fellow in the Departments of History, International and Development Studies at MSU.