adminchief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, making her the first female to hold that challenging post in the history of the local Olympic sports organisation.
She fills the position following the departure of Stanley Mutoya who officially quit as the ZOC chief executive on October 31 to join the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa. Mutoya is set to leave the country on Saturday for Gaborone, Botswana, where he will take up his new post of SCSA general manager.
He will be replacing fellow Zimbabwean, Charles Dzimba, who is retiring as the general manager of SCSA at the end of this year. Mutoya’s move to SCSA paved the way for Mguni to come in as the new chief executive of ZOC. Mguni assumed her new role on Tuesday. The former secretary-general of the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe, was yesterday officially appointed as the new ZOC chief executive by the organisation’s president Admire Masenda.
“We (ZOC) have now appointed a substantive CEO in Anna Mguni.
“Basically, the (ZOC) board looked at the options that we had for this position and we opted to head hunt and Anna Mguni was among the candidates put forward. In fact, a panel was set up to interview her and the recommendations from the panel was that she was suitable for the position.
“As you are aware, Mguni is not new to the ZOC secretariat. She worked under (former ZOC chief executive) Robert Mutsauki as manager for operations and business development before leaving for the private sector,” Masenda said.
Up until now, Mguni was an elected member of the ZOC board and she was the chairperson of the Technical and Development Commission.
Before her appointment as the ZOC chief executive, Mguni has also been working with various International Olympic Committee arms, including the Olympic Solidarity in regard to preparations for the 2012 London Olympic Games and general development programmes. Masenda said he was very happy and confident that ZOC is in good hands with Mguni as the organisation’s chief executive.
“We, as a board, will do everything within our power to assist her to achieve the goals that ZOC has set for itself. It was (also) critical to ensure that there wasn’t a vacuum in that position given where we are in regards to the preparations for the 2012 London Olympic Games and other programmes that we are working on,” Masenda said. Mguni, an avid sports follower, yesterday said she felt humbled and honoured by her latest appointment as the ZOC chief executive.
“For me as a woman, it’s an achievement and it’s a great honour to have my passion for sport recognised.
“I’m also extremely proud to have championed this milestone and I sincerely hope that my appointment as the new ZOC chief executive will be exemplary to other women.”
The Zimbabwe women’s rugby team manager added that she would strive to ensure ZOC is run professionally, the same way it was run under her predecessors Mutsauki and Mutoya. Mguni has experience in sports administration as she was once the secretary-general of the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe for three years from 2001 to 2003.
She also held a number of positions in sports administration and her relationship with ZOC started in 2001. At the beginning of 2004, Mguni, a former television personality who has a passion for Formula One racing, was appointed as the assistant general-manager of publicity for the Zimbabwe team to the Zone Six Games in Maputo, Mozambique, in April of the same year.
April 2004 also saw Mguni being appointed as the new ZOC operations manager, taking over the post from fellow seasoned sports administrator George Chisvo.
She later left ZOC to join the private sector before she bounced back this week to rejoin the organisation as its new chief executive.
Online Reporter