adminOpinion Faith Silandulo
Now that the hype and excitement associated with the Zifa elections is over, it is time to microscopically take a closer look at relevant matters pertaining to the game of football in Zimbabwe.
One of the side effects pertaining to elections in general and football elections in particular, is that it tends to organise people in polarised groups, but once the election is over, we expect the barriers to collapse and give an opportunity for the game of football to be the winner.
However, some excitable Zealots remain in fierce fighting mode and as such they tend to be natural enemies of progress and growth of sport. One of the phenomenal powers of sport and particularly football is its power to bring people together and unite them. The Zifa elections like many other elections are naturally associated with all sorts of emotions, allegations of vote-buying, irregular electoral processes and a whole lot of other barbaric and archaic tendencies.
The previous Zifa elections were indeed punctuated by some of the above noted issues to such an extent that some people felt strongly that the process was flawed and hence militated against the basic tenets of democratic principles. It was against this background that forced some to knock at the court corridors for recourse – all in vain.
Our football elections are like a complex mathematical problem at elementary level where a poor kid ends up saying it ‘‘can’t’’. Surely, I ‘‘can’t’’ believe that Nigel Munyati got ZERO votes. I ‘‘can’t’’ believe that with all the good players he has groomed at Aces Academy and playing for a number of PSL and lower division clubs in Zimbabwe and outside our borders, he ‘‘can’t’’ even get a single vote.
One would have assumed that Munyati is a good model and candidate who knows very well the youth football development. Well, welcome on board to football elections in Zimbabwe. It is an electoral system that seems to reward the unknown matters that don’t even matter in football. It is an election where a manifesto does not seem to matter.
Indeed the winners wined, dined and partied. Those who lost have probably come to terms with what happened. There is colossal evidence in the mainstream and social media which paints a very sombre and sorry picture of a shocked nation after the March 29 elections at the Zifa Village.
Zifa Board elections are systematically won at grassroots Zifa structures, and not necessarily during the Board elections when the trajectory of the outcome will almost be clear.
How that is done at grassroots is a subject of discussion for some other time. Like a football tsikamutanda, I did predict the outcome after the lower football elections were concluded, and some never cared to listen. Congratulations are indeed in order for the winners, however one will be forgiven to spare a thought for the generally flabbergasted football community in Zimbabwe.
Football is a sport followed passionately by millions of people in Zimbabwe and yet a handful (58) of individuals decides who will be the captains of our beloved sport for the coming four years. When this is viewed against the very basic principles of democratic governance, one will argue and say it is indeed unfair. This is the order of football elections and the POVO can only pin their hopes on the Honourable Zifa Councillors to elect what they deem to be the best. The Leadership has indeed been elected.
In the democratic menu of choices that were available, did the Zifa Councillors settle for the best candidates? Where is our football in terms of its growth and development in the world of association football?
What kind of leadership do we need to drive this game to the next level?
This set of questions needs careful and sober engagement as we endeavour to forecast the future of the game of football in Zimbabwe. It is my humble position premised on the undeniable truth and stubborn fact that our game of football terribly suffered a lot during the dark days of Wellington Nyatanga’s leadership which was largely characterised by a plethora of scandals associated with match-fixing.
That was one of the darkest eras of football leadership in Zimbabwe in which people saw more value in the proverbial 30 pieces of silver than the soul of the Zimbabwean football – sellouts and unpatriotic misfits who do not deserve to be associated with our game in anyway.
We expected the Cuthbert Dube-led board to move our game some strides up and their performance is an obvious public record. Their obsession and clumsy manner in which they handled the “Asiagate” scandals has led Fifa to distance themselves from the shambolic process.
Critical football matters suffered a lot during the Cuthbert Dube leadership as evidenced by their failure to prioritise youth football development, qualifying for major tournaments among other issues. Cuthbert Dube proved instrumental in his efforts to financially rescue the game in many instances, but the Dube board dismally failed to address the fundamental matters of football sponsorship when its affiliates like PSL are enjoying good market share of corporate support. The current individual based football funding model at Zifa is dangerous for corporate sustainability as its unintended consequences tend to create bottlenecks of patronage and paints a gloomy picture of the game without Dube the person. One can strongly argue that the previous board made a number of mistakes which bordered on retribution as evidenced by the number of people who were banned from football which included fellow board members, players, administrators, journalists, coaches, etc.
Some of the bans were indeed necessary while others are unfair as evidenced by the delays in the execution of justice. There was reckless negligence on the part of the secretariat when Highlanders FC was erroneously banned from Caf competitions for a crime they never committed.
Whoever was responsible at Zifa was never punished, he got away with murder. Like a football dinosaur, the traditional Zifa Cup is now extinct and no longer a part of our football calendar. All this did not add value to the game of football in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean football surely deserves a leader who will build bridges and give corporate confidence that there is peace in the game of football!
In as much as it is fair to give credit and acknowledge some success stories from the previous board in the form of the construction at the Zifa Village, a new constitution, performance of the Warriors at the Chan tournament, among other achievements.
However, in general it is also fair to metaphorically conclude that our game was buried during Wellington Nyatanga’s era and the Cuthbert Dube board spent the better part of their term trying to beautify a stinking grave at the expense of giving the game the ‘‘Lazarus moment’’ it desperately needed.
It will be a big disservice to the game of football and grossly unfair to sing unnecessary praises where they are not due.
Are we going to see a resurrection of the game of football in the next coming four years?
As the new Zifa board and its structures start mapping a way forward for the game, it is prudent for them to seriously reflect on the shortcomings and successes of their predecessors and come up with strategic interventions that will take our game of football to the next level.
The previous board dismally failed in their endeavours to prioritise critical football matters like youth football development and building bridges among a palpably divided football family post the Asiagate scandals. All this did not add value to the game of football and hence consequently failed to package the game of football as a product worth of corporate partnership and support. The football financial model in this country is an affront to normative economic trends and it tends to shy away the corporate sector which is alive to the socio-economic realities obtaining in our economy.
It boggles the mind why a Division One football club must affiliate to Zifa for $3,000 (R30,000) to play in an unsponsored league.
Football should be run along business lines and not philanthropic practices. It was during Dube’s time that the share of Zifa income from PSL clubs’ gate takings went up from 3-6 percent and there is no benefit whatsoever that accrues to PSL clubs.
A number of football clubs have collapsed in the past decade as a result of an obscene football financial model which seems completely divorced to the current economic contexts and hence the trajectory of football survival is almost obvious if nothing is done to address this madness.
Why on earth should a team win the championship and all the prizemoney is swallowed by fines. Surely fines shouldn’t be an albatross to the game, but just a deterrent measure that must leave the game breathing.
Why can’t the six percent levy that Zifa collects from clubs benefit the Zifa developmental projects at provincial level?
For a coach to get accreditation at Division 2 and get a licence which costs less than $5 they pay $120 – come on you Zifa people!
The Zimbabwe presidential candidates pay $500 as nomination in the general elections. Why on earth should someone pay $5,000 in our Zimbabwean economic context as nomination fees in order to go and volunteer their services at Zifa?
What is there at Zifa? I think all these capitalistic tendencies are seriously militating against the spirit of volunteerism, corporate democratic participation and paint a very shameful picture of a sport that is poorly packaged and priced.
These issues need urgent attention or else the usual boring melody about lack of sponsorship will always be our soprano.
Are we going to witness the growth and development of Zimbabwean football in the next four years?
Are we going to witness some leadership which is direction setting and taking the game to the next level? Are we going to see youth football development finally taking shape outside an election manifesto? Are we going to see the game of football finally spreading throughout the country instead of confining national team games to Harare as if they are Bambazonke projects?
Are we finally going to see a leadership that will attend to some evident fissures among the football family in Zimbabwe and package the game as a product worth associating with other serious corporate brands? These are some of the fundamental questions that will need sober engagement as we try to imagine the future of the game of football in the coming years with our new Zifa board. A lot has been said about the current board. There have been some loud voices of disapproval from some quarters about the current board.
It is my well-considered view that if the current board attends to some of the questions I have raised with distinction; our game will be in a better shape in the next few years. Some of the key stumbling issues that must die immediately in order to set a solid foundation for the future success of the game will be to destroy the factions and fiefdoms that have created a monstrous culture of patronage.
In this country we have gallant Sons and Daughters who sacrificed their precious lives and personal interests in order to liberate the country from the colonial regime during the liberation struggle – they are called War Veterans.
In the game of football we have people who have contributed a lot of effort in their lives to make our game of football better.
Zifa has devised a mechanism of honouring those Sons and Daughters as Life members of the Zimbabwe Football Association, which is a very noble and plausible idea. This should ideally serve as a top civil football honour in Zimbabwe. With no doubt, from the Southern Region this honorary category of Zifa Life Members should have football giants like Tafi Moyo, Gibson Homela, Ndumiso Gumede, among other life time achievers in the game. I read with much shock and disappointment that people like Cecelia Malunga Marange of Women’s National Soccer League was honoured as a Zifa Life Member on March 29 at the Zifa Village.
Honouring the likes of Ndumiso Gumede in the same category of achievers with people like Cecelia Malunga is making the whole process a boring joke. Even among the War Veterans, not all of them are buried at the National Heroes Acre – some are honoured at village level.
Asixabene bantu, and all the best to the winners and I wish them a successful term.
Those who lost, it’s just a contest – there will always be next time.
Those who were ready to kill for their preferred Leader, sithi imbazo phansi and let’s give the sport a chance to unite all the people.
May we see the game of football in Zimbabwe grow during your term, less squabbles, factions and fights. Akulamuntu womuntu, let football be the winner !
Online Reporter