Mimosa bail out Zifa

The makeshift battalion of Warriors, featuring a number of players drafted in at the last-minute after all the foreign-based players pulled out of the contest, bravely fought and came out of the contest with a goalless draw to show for their troubles.

Chaotic preparations saw the team’s scheduled road trip to Gaborone being delayed by two days as Zifa battled to find the financial resources needed to underwrite the costs of the journey.
The Warriors only arrived in Gaborone in the early hours of the eve of the match and had just one light training session before their tie against the Zebras.
It has since emerged that the Warriors’ trip to Botswana was on the verge of being cancelled and an SOS was sent to Mimosa Mining Company, the parent company of FC Platinum, who agreed to bail out Zifa.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube, who has at times bailed the Warriors from his pocket, was out of the country last week and without his helping hand, the trip appeared doomed.

Dube only returned home on Saturday.
Questions have inevitably emerged as to what is the role of the other members of the Zifa board if they cannot organise a simple road trip to Gaborone for the senior national team.
In contrast, Zimbabwe Women’s Football boss Mavis Gumbo has successfully organised trips for the Mighty Warriors to a training camp in Germany and to a three-team tournament in Egypt.
The Herald was advised yesterday that Mimosa Mining Company paid US$10 000 last week to bail out Zifa and enable the Warriors travel to Gaborone.

The money was transferred from the company’s FBC bank account into Zifa’s BancABC account.
Initially, Zifa had wanted to use a luxury bus for the Warriors but RockShade Travel and Tours quoted the association US$8 500 for the road trip to Gaborone.
Given that Mimosa Mining Company injected US$10 000 into the Zifa account, it meant that hiring the RockShade luxury coach would have left the association with only US$1 500 to use for allowances for the Warriors.

Zifa officials then decided to hire a smaller bus, at a cheaper price, and 17 players made the trip.
Yesterday, Zifa communications manager Nicky Dhlamini, confirmed that the association received a donation from the Zvishavane-based company.
“We approached a couple of organisations looking for financial assistance and Mimosa came through to us with a donation.
“I am not privy to the exact figures because the chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze handled that.

“I know it was to cover transport and the allowances for the Botswana trip,” said Dhlamini.
The Zifa chief executive was not available for comment yesterday afternoon as he was locked in meetings with the Zifa president.
Mashingaidze was the guest of honour at the FC Platinum annual awards presentation ceremony in Zvishavane last month.
While Mimosa Mining Company, as a Zimbabwean firm, have every right to sponsor the national football team, there will be some sober voices who will see the possibility of conflict of interest.

How much, for instance, will this donation cloud the delivery of justice at Zifa in the event that FC Platinum, for instance, are dragged before a disciplinary hearing at the association?
How flexible will Zifa be in dealing with a disciplinary issue, related to FC Platinum, when the baggage of the donation from their parent company will be hanging over the association’s head?
How fair will Zifa be in dealing with a case, possibly involving a player transfer wrangle that sucks in FC Platinum, given the association’s financial transactions with the parent sponsors of the Premiership club?
In the event of a tight battle for the Premiership title this year, involving FC Platinum and another team, won’t such a donation provoke fears that Zifa, as the controlling authority of referees, are creating a playing field that is not level because they remain weighed down by that donation from Mimosa?

It has emerged that Zifa have good relations with Mimosa Mining Company as they were also rescued by the giant mining firm in December when the Young Warriors traveled to the Cosafa Metropolitan Championships in Gaborone.
Although Cosafa were responsible for team’s transport needs, the money from the organisation was not released on time and Zifa were forced to look elsewhere to send the national Under-20 team to Botswana.
While the Young Warriors had the luxury of flying to Gaborone, via Johannesburg, the Warriors had to endure a lengthy road trip to the same city.

The Young Warriors, for all the comfort of their travel arrangements, were knocked out at the group stages and left Gaborone without a victory to their credit in a poor campaign for the team.
The makeshift Warriors, for all the drama that characterised their road trip, battled their way to a goalless draw against their 2012 Nations Cup-bound opponents who were named the 2011 Caf Team of The Year.
The chaotic road trip to Gaborone left a bitter taste in the mouths of many fans and with more questions than answers emerging as to where the Warriors’ brand was heading to.
Initially, Warriors’ coach Norman Mapeza had called a strong squad of 23 players, including those plying their trade in the Absa Premiership as well as Germany-based talisman Knowledge Musona, who was in the country for Christmas holiday.

The Bundesliga was on its annual winter break.
But Musona did not make the trip to Gaborone amid suspicion that he didn’t want to endure the lengthy road trip by bus to Botswana.
Given that the friendly international also fell outside the Fifa calendar for such matches, Zifa did not have the powers to force clubs to release players for such duty and many players, who did not want to travel, found refugee in statements issued by their clubs that they would not be released for the game.

Musona only returned to his German base this week from South Africa where he spent the last of his holiday.
Edward Sadomba, who is still here, pulled out of the tie because he felt he wasn’t in the right physical condition to play for the Warriors after having been on a lengthy break from football.
Sadomba and his Warriors’ teammate, defender Thomas Sweswe, spent their Saturday afternoon watching social football at Barclays Sports Club in the capital.

Zifa have struggled to underwrite their financial commitments when it comes to the national teams and Dube has, now and again, dug into his pockets to help the teams.
Last month Dube revealed that he has spent in excess of US$550 000, since February 2009, in direct expenses from his company, Buymore Investments, to help local football.
Last year Zifa risked failing to fulfil the last fixture of the failed 2012 Nations Cup campaign against Cape Verde in Praia in October because of empty coffers.

The Government then bailed out the association at the last minute and the Warriors arrived a day before the crucial match where a win would have taken them to the Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Such chaotic travel arrangements, where the team arrived in batches with the European-based players flying straight to Cape Verde, and did not hold a single training session at home as a group, did not help them in the end as they slumped to a 1-2 defeat.

Liberia bravely held Mali to a 2-2 draw, a result that would have given the Warriors a ticket to the 2012 Nations Cup finals had they beaten Cape Verde.