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In the broadest sense, the term covers any rhetoric in which one refers to one’s opponent in an ad hominem manner. Negative campaigning can be found in most market places where ideas are contested. In US politics, mudslinging has been called “as American as Mississippi mud”. Some research suggests negative campaigning is the norm in all political venues, mitigated only by the dynamics of a particular contest (Wikipedia).
Football is another minefield where politics is the order of the day and mudslinging has become synonymous with the beautiful game such that the only thing beautiful about it is the children and women it attracts, as well as the skills displayed by the players. Otherwise, nothing beautiful comes from its administrators and in Zimbabwe; the bandwagon has been joined by those who believe they carry the mandate of every Zimbabwean who loves football, calling themselves Soccer Supporters Association of Zimbabwe.
There is no doubt that our football needs some kind of cleansing, there are a lot of corrupt people running the show and there are equally corrupt people who have been running the show and equally corrupt people who are making noise from the terraces, accusing others of this and that. That is what we can refer to as mudslinging, and the supporters body has joined the fray, whether for the good or bad, only time will tell.
The supporters association appeared before a parliamentary portfolio in Harare on Thursday where their leadership, secretary general Wellington Mpandare and life president Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga alleged that Zifa president Cuthbert Dube bought his way into office in 2010.
Ironically, Mpandare is a former Young Warriors manager, who found himself left out of the national team structures when a new set up, was announced recently. Also making serious allegations was another former Young Warriors manager, Eddie Chivero, who went on to add that suspended board members, Gift Banda and Patrick Hokonya needed parliamentary protection and immunity, to bring forward evidence of Dube’s shenanigans.
Without necessarily coming to the defence of Dube, you get a feeling that claiming that the Zifa president is not “even a football fan” as reported in one daily paper yesterday, is taking mudslinging too far because you cannot own and finance a team up to the Premier League (Buymore) if you are not a football person.
You cannot use your personal finances and property to sponsor football and bail out the national association and national team if your heart is not in football. You certainly cannot put about half a million US dollars into something you don’t like in two years.Nonetheless, that is for Dube to defend himself.
“Some councillors were paid money to elect the board and as investigations into the Asiagate scandal are going on, we feel allegations of buying Zifa positions should also be investigated. Supporters are reliably informed that Dube personally lent Zifa $7 070 (receipt number 18806) on 8 February 2010, which was payment for the ten provinces “subscriptions” a full month before the 27 March 2010 elections that ushered him into office. What was he paying for when he was not yet a board member?” Mpandare was quoted as having told parliamentarians.
Nyatanga also told the committee that they had a document that will make people collapse with evidence of corruption within the Zifa board.
“We have a document that will make people collapse if the information is revealed, but we need your help as Parliament because we have tried to approach the Sports Commission, government and even the President to say people are using their money to bulldoze their way into positions at Zifa,” Nyatanga was quoted as saying.
And when you talk to sitting Zifa board members, they will tell that it’s a question of sour grapes from people who are no longer in the national teams’ set up and people who are no longer benefiting from the association’s activities, especially when the Warriors are hosting teams where some work has to be sourced from outside the association. They will also tell you that it’s people who are afraid that the Asiagate investigations will end up touching them. The whole thing becomes a chain reaction of accusations and counter-accusations by people with interest in power, leaving players and the real football fans out there wondering which direction the game is taking.
It is also prudent to note that the supporters are not the first to claim that Dube bought votes, allegations he has rubbished on a number of times in the past, and the logical thing would be for someone making a similar claim to come forward with concrete evidence, so that we don’t dismiss it as another chapter of mudslinging.
However, after everything has been said, you notice that the whole exercise is doomed because parliament cannot censure Zifa. The way Fifa runs football is one mafia style that gives them their own world and space, at times above some of the functions and arms of government.
Fifa will tell you that government officials are not supposed to interfere in football and in countries where the national association members have been kicked out by government officials; they have been reinstated by Fifa.
Fifa says there is “no justification” for direct government intervention in the governance of the game and has warned countries that they risk suspension if politicians overstepped the mark. Even British politicians had a problem with the way football is run, but they found themselves suppressed by Fifa.
“Fifa believes that there is no justification for direct intervention by government into the running of English football. It is unclear on what basis such intervention might be justified as the externalities that are traditionally cited in cases of direct market intervention are not applicable.
“Furthermore, we would ask the committee to note the examples of other football nations where ‘direct intervention’ has resulted in restrictions being placed on international team participation by Fifa,” is what was said regarding the British football impasse.
The Nigerian federation was threatened with expulsion from Fifa after government officials in the country tried to withdraw the team from future competitions after their poor performance at the World Cup in South Africa.
Recently, Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, reinstated the dismissed Egypt Football Federation officials following the violent scenes in Port Said that resulted in 74 deaths, calling their dismissal “direct interference” by the Cairo government.
Blatter’s stance came against a sad scenario in Egypt. The violence began when Al-Masry fans stormed the field after their team’s 3-1 win against Cairo-based Al-Ahly and began attacking their rivals. Hundreds of Al-Ahly fans were driven into a narrow stadium exit where they were crushed against a locked gate.
Blatter said the firing of the federation president, Samir Zaher, and his leadership constituted “a direct interference in the organisation of football”.
In the run up to the appearance of the supporters before the parliamentary committee, Zifa had tried hard to stop them.
In fact, they disowned the body and called for a new national supporters association with elected leadership to be put in place with representatives from across the country. It was clear from the run up that there was bad blood between the Mboma-led association and the Dube leadership and we can suggest that knives are out and time will tell us the winner.
I received an e-mail from one of the followers of this column, who was not happy with the way the PSL had treated Quelaton. The team was fined $5 000 for using a suspended player and docked three points and many football followers felt the penalty was heavy, although they directed their anger at the wrong person, PSL CEO Kennedy Ndebele, who does not sit in the disciplinary committee.
Following is what George Sithole said: “I have followed Zimbabwean football with keen interest of late, but what saddens me a lot is the way football justice is being done or implemented. Take an example, CAPS United match against Chicken Inn, which was called off with a few minutes to go to full time but look no summons have been sent to Caps. Then came Motor Action match that was abandoned because they did not show up at the match venue.
“The hearing or summons are still pending but now a team from the other side of the country Quelaton’s case has been done very fast and points taken and fined so fast, We wonder if Mr Ndebele has big shoes to deal with Dynamo’ case against Hwange?
“Will it be done very fast or justice will be delivered come the end of the season when knowing that they won’t be champions? Rules are rules and they must be applied the same regardless of the teams in question.”
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