‘My conscience is clear’

Simeone Jamanda
I REFER to your article which was published in The Herald of January 22, 2014, pertaining to the supporters’ trip to Cape Town.
Regrettably, your reporter did not bother to seek my side of the story as dictated by the ethics of journalism. The reporter travelled with me all the way from Cape Town to Johannesburg, a trip of 17 hours, whereby he had ample time to verify some of the allegations before print. This makes me wonder whether the journalist did not have ulterior motives. The following are the correct facts of the matter:

Nyaradzo Funeral Services, through their Scorepack Plan, donated two buses to Zifa to ferry soccer supporters to Cape Town for the CHAN soccer tournament.

Zifa approached me, as the Supporters Liaison Officer, and requested me to co-ordinate and mobilise the supporters.
Those fans wishing to travel to Cape Town were required to have a minimum of US$250 for their sustenance during the trip.

Prior to our departure, I made enquiries for accommodation costs and the most cost-effective was Cape Town University at US$25 per night excluding meals.

I issued a Press statement to all media houses advising people who intended to travel that they had to have valid travel documents and US$250 for their sustenance. Those who met these requirements were to register their names with Mr Wellington Mugwagwa, the marketing manager at Zifa.

A few people responded to my Press statements. As a result of the poor responses, one bus was withdrawn and our departure was postponed to Tuesday. To enable people to stay for fewer days the fee of US$250 was reduced to US$125.

I issued a statement to all media houses advising them of the new travel arrangements. The journalist who wrote the story was aware of the travel arrangements.

Forty six people finally travelled, 10 were members of the Friends of the Warriors led by the vice-president, Todd Dzvanga, 11 brass band members, four journalists, a member of the Zifa secretariat and the rest were bona-fide supporters of the game.

Mr Muwashe, who is extensively quoted in the story as the complainant, was not part of this team which had been cleared by the Sports Commission and Zifa.

The allegation that I did not buy food for the supporters and pay for their accommodation is false and far-fetched.
I had no obligation to feed the supporters since it had been explained that supporters had to ensure that they had sufficient funding for their sustenance.

Despite this, I managed to book 25 people into a lodge for six days through funds that I had secured from an ardent fan.
The Zifa president, Dr Cuthbert Dube, did not fund the trip, directly or indirectly, hence any attempt to put his name into disrepute is mischievous and deserves to be condemned.

Mr Muwashe, who is the source of the story, is an impostor and has no “locus standi” in our trip. We only met him in Cape Town where he was vending and helped him with transport to come back home.

As for the lady companion, there is nothing wrong in my spouse accompanying me since we share the same passion.
This is the time for us to invite sponsors into the game and not to chase them away with reckless statements that have no foundation and cannot be supported by evidence or facts.

What we have done is that we have destroyed progress and we have dragged a company like Nyaradzo, who just tried to help the game, into the mud and tomorrow they are unlikely to come back to help us.

Our game requires supporters who will not bring football into disrepute through negative media statements which have the potential of scarring away sponsors.

We are closer to getting to the semi-finals and finals and I appeal to every patriotic Zimbabwean to unite and support the Warriors and I have done my part by bringing in Weldmex Engineering and Hardware, a local company, who gave the Warriors R100 000 as a winning bonus.

The money was set to be presented to the team at their hotel (last) night.
The company is prepared to double those incentives if the boys do even better.

To me that is patriotism and instead of people complaining of meals, that we were not given food and drinks when these cost just R20 rand, we should be seen to be adding value to the team.

At our game against Burkina Faso, there were about 7 500 Zimbabwean fans and 30 travelled from Zimbabwe.
Now what makes those 30 special that they should have their transport paid for, food paid for and meals paid for?

What about the other 7 000 fans, who footed their costs to be in the stadium? I am beginning to doubt this so-called Friends of Warriors organisation because, to me, they are just parasites who want to have everything paid for them.

Vanoda kuti tivatsvagire fodya, bepa, tovamonera mudzanga, tovabatidzira fodya yacho, this is unacceptable, real fans should not go around looking for money to be sponsored to support their team but they should look for the funds.

Right now the Dynamos fans are holding meetings to raise money to go to Botswana to support their team but the Friends of the Warriors want everything to be paid for them.

Simeone Jamanda is the Liaison Officer of the Supporters at Zifa.