adminRicky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HARARE’S Twalumba FC supremo Miriam Sibanda will battle it out with incumbent Mavis Gumbo for the Zimbabwe National Women’s Soccer League chairperson’s position during elections scheduled for Harare on February 23.
Sibanda launched her campaign in Bulawayo yesterday where she met provincial representatives from Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and the hosts.
Also present at the meeting were Southern Region officials led by outgoing chairperson Elizabeth Langa who is seeking re-election as well as club representatives from Bulawayo.
“This is my first meeting with women’s football stakeholders and I chose to start here in Bulawayo because this is where women’s football started in Zimbabwe. What women’s football clubs are clamouring for is more football activity and that is why my theme says ‘It’s about more game, more women in football.’
“Stakeholders have to collectively define what they want to see happen and work together to make it happen. This is the time to roll up sleeves and say this is what we want when you cast the vote on election day,” Sibanda said.
In the last year, there was an outcry on lack of activity in women’s football, particularly in the Super League despite the fact that at the beginning of 2012 Marange Resources had unveiled a sponsorship package of US$3 million for several years.
The sponsorship was supposed to cater for national teams’ full kit of training, travelling, tracksuits, home and away attire with the local league with teams in all the 10 provinces guaranteed of financial support.
To date, Super League clubs are yet to receive their 2012 prize money and they claim that efforts to recover their dues continue to hit the brick wall.
The Gumbo-led executive has been accused of failing to account to its affiliates how the Marange Resources sponsorship was used.
Sibanda is promising transparency and accountability in the governance of women’s football once voted in.
“The success of Zimbabwe women’s football lies in the systems we adopt and our ability to adhere to the rules. How we conduct our affairs must be above board, transparently and be accountable.
“I am coming from a corporate side and I know that companies want to partner institutions that maintain good corporate governance and should the team that we have go in, we will maintain the sponsors that are there and entice them to increase their package,” said the former media practitioner who also wrote sports stories for international news agencies in her over 20-year career.
Sibanda said she would like to see sponsorship cascade down to provinces, area zones and schools.
Her team has Langa as her deputy, with Inline director Trust Kwembeya, outgoing Mashonaland Central chairperson Edwin Magosvongwe who is the co-director of Auckaland Queens and Ben Mamoche tipped for board member position.
Online Reporter