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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER football administrator, Lovemore “Gijima” Msindo, says his heart bleeds when he sees the game failing to make meaningful strides over four decades after Independence.
Msindo, who was one of the founding members of the modern Premier Soccer League in 1992, told The Herald that Zimbabwean football is now in a worse state than it was three decades ago.
He said the same problems, and sometimes worse, keep recurring despite the advanced knowledge that has accumulated in the global game in the 21st century.
While many African nations are moving up, Zimbabwean football is currently in intensive care or on its deathbed. The ZIFA board led by Felton Kamambo is currently suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission over governance issues and faces the boot when the Congress meet in Harare in April.
In turn, the suspended board has been fighting everyone in football administration perceived to be against them, and recently announced suspensions of more than a dozen officials and employees of both ZIFA and the PSL.
These suspensions, however, were set aside after the Kamambo board was arraigned before the courts facing charges of fraud and for making resolutions and communicating using ZIFA letterhead in continued defiance of the Sports Commission suspension. The case will be heard at the Harare Magistrates’ courts on March 31.
Msindo, who has turned his back on the game to concentrate on his farming business in Rusape, admitted the game was in a sorry state and urged stakeholders to find lasting solutions.
“Football solutions are needed to get ourselves out of this unfortunate situation we find ourselves in. The problem we have at the moment is that we have people in administration who do not have the game at heart.
“I still believe that if people really want progress in football, there has to be a way for all the stakeholders.
“While the Sports Commission have been trying to force the leadership at ZIFA to be accountable, using the SRC Act, I also think we have to go back to the football statutes to find directions.
“We are an affiliate of FIFA and there has to be some form of balance. I feel the councillors, who are the ones who vote these people into power, should also be empowered (through the upcoming EGM) to revoke the mandate of the board if they feel the football leadership has lost direction. They can do this without straining relations with FIFA,” said Msindo.
The Masvingo-born businessman questioned the calibre of the current football leadership. He blamed corruption for the woes that the game finds itself in since the leaders use financial muscle to win the posts at the expense of deserving people who have gone through the mill either as players or administrators, with traceable references.
His Fire Batteries was a founder club of the current PSL after teams decided to break away from ZIFA because it had failed to address a number of issues affecting clubs.
However, Msindo feels he has not seen tangible improvements since 1992.
“The reason we broke away from ZIFA was that we were not happy with the way football was being run, especially on the aspect of gate-takings. We were paid peanuts, considering what we were putting into the game.
“We wanted to do things on our own. We elected (the late) Morrison Sifelani as chairman and Chris Sibanda as the secretary-general. These were shrewd administrators. They were by far better than these pretenders we are seeing today.
“When we broke away from ZIFA and formed the Premiers Soccer League, the idea was to increase the revenue streams to the clubs so that they benefit more from their product.
“We also realised that the Government was a major stakeholder and we pushed for Leo Mugabe to take over as ZIFA president hoping that he would use his proximity to the Government and the late former president to negotiate a better deal for football. But that failed.
Online Reporter