adminYour being in office after being mandated by the different stakeholders to run our football comes with it a lot of responsibility and trust bestowed on you by those who elected you.
When you are elected chairperson of a province or region, your constituents expect you to represent them fairly and professionally. It means even when you vote for national football leaders, you should know that those who sent you to do that should some how benefit from your choice.
Those national leaders should be voted into office on merit and nothing else. Nothing should influence you, councillors, in your choice when voting besides qualities that make one the best candidate for a particular post. We have always believed that who ever gets into office does so on merit not because of his bank account or national political influence.
At the end of the day, it’s us the owners of the game that always suffer when the wolf in sheep’s clothing shows its true colours.
I was, like everyone else, taken aback during the week when the Zifa Southern Region chairman Gift Banda, who is facing serious charges of match-fixing, came out guns blazing and wrote a scathing letter challenging the Zifa president, Cuthbert Dube, to come out clean on how he got into office.
“…It might as well mean suspending, with due respect, you Mr President, on allegations of vote buying for which witnesses are prepared to come up and present evidence on the allegations. It is at this turning point that those living in glass houses have been throwing stones,” alleged Banda in his letter published by our Harare Bureau on Thursday.
He wrote that letter after he together with his Central Region counterpart, Patrick Hokonya were fingered in a match-fixing scam which has been dubbed Zimgate.
My reason for writing this letter today is to challenge you, our esteemed councillors, our football custodians, that if there is anyone of you who thinks he is clean he should stand up and publicly say so.
Banda’s allegations are very serious and we in the media had also heard similar allegations prior to the publication of the letter but had no proof.
Even to Dube himself I think it’s time to walk the talk, no one is saying you are guilty at the moment but we have people who have been suspended on mere allegations, people like Methembe Ndlovu, Kenny Marange, Solomon Mugavazi and recently, Samukeliso Silengane, Cosmas Nyoni and Cedric Raisi.
Who among you, councillors can openly declare that his or her hands are clean following Banda’s allegations?
Immediately after the elections in 2010 rumours started spreading so fast like a veld fire that some councillors had become rich overnight and were now driving posh cars while sleeping in expensive hotels.
There is no problem with that but some of you are known to be unemployed and of no fixed abode. Where are these riches coming from that enable you to sleep in a hotel for a week and buy cars?
Once again my challenge to you is can those who are clean come up and publicly say so!
I hope my challenge will be taken up seriously or else an asset audit on things acquired before and after the 2010 Zifa elections has to be conducted. I rest my case
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter Chronicle
Email: [email protected].
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu