dyton mupawaenda
Zimpapers Sports Hub
OUTGOING Normalisation Committee chairman Lincoln Mutasa has confirmed that his tenure at the helm of ZIFA is up and will end tomorrow.
Mutasa told panellists on the ZTN magazine show – The Couch- on Wednesday that his committee were now preparing for their exit from office at the end of their July 11, 2023 to June 30, 2024 mandate.
The former Dynamos right back and chairman even gave an evaluation of his period at ZIFA, giving his committee a success rating of 70 percent in terms of the achieving the tasks they had been assigned by FIFA.
He revealed that FIFA had stopped them from appointing a substantive Warriors coach, “since our time is now up’’.
“Before we came up with the interim set up that brought in Jairos Tapera and his team, we had conducted interviews for the national coach and we had wanted to appoint a foreign coach since FIFA had indicated that there would be funding to assist us with paying for the coach.
“But we were then stopped by FIFA who said since your mandate is coming to an end, then maybe the incoming leadership can appoint a substantive coach for the Warriors,’’ Mutasa said.
As Mutasa prepares for his exit, amid revelations too that FIFA will name another Normalisation Committee for ZIFA, speculation has also heightened on some of the names being touted to come in and complete the reform process at the association.
Banker Nigel Chanakira’s name has already been linked with the next Normalisation Committee.
Another top football administrator and ex-FC Platinum president George Mawere became the latest figure to have his name, also being associated with the new Normalisation Committee.
Mawere is credited, with laying the platform that turned FC Platinum into a trailblazing beast that took over dominance of the Premiership with four championship titles to their name. The seasoned administrator yesterday said he was not aware of talk linking him with a role in the incoming Normalisation Committee at ZIFA.
Mawere, however, said he would consider a call to serve the country’s number one sport should he be approached.
“I have been in football long enough to appreciate that speculation is a part of the terrain,’’ Mawere said.
“All I can say is I am a servant of the game of football and a proud Zimbabwean who cannot say no to serving the nation.’’
Should he be included in the Normalisation Committee, Mawere is also expected to bring in his vast human resources expertise at ZIFA, where appointments of key personnel including the national teams’, coaches have been farcical.
Since July last year, the outgoing Normalisation Committee have dithered on the appointment of national team coaches, inviting prospective candidates to apply and even interviewing some.
In the end, Mutasa and his crew specialised in naming one interim coach after another for the Warriors and as they leave office, they have had a record four of them taking charge of the senior team.
These are Sunday Chidzambwa, Baltermar Brito, Norman Mapeza and now Jairos Tapera.
There are, however, strong indications that FIFA will name the new Normalisation Committee on July 2, to ensure there is no long leadership vacuum when Mutasa leaves office after tomorrow.
Online Reporter