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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
BESIEGED Zifa president Cuthbert Dube would be unwise if he does not relinquish his position following the sudden resignation of his ally, Fifa boss Sepp Blatter on Tuesday, a veteran football administrator has said.
Former Zifa acting chairman Vincent Pamire, yesterday said the under-fire Zifa boss, who survived a boardroom coup last month after some councillors voted to recall him only for Fifa to nullify their resolution, had to display some honour by standing down.
“You see, the unfortunate thing about this is that obviously there’s no smoke without fire. Something fishy has been happening, there’s no doubt about that. Something went wrong and it’s time to clean the house and hopefully Cuthbert will take a leaf from that as well,” said Pamire.
“When things aren’t right, you leave and let others clean the house. I’ve no doubt about that (Dube resigning). It’s difficult for him to clean the house and it’s difficult for him to attract any sponsorship and I think he’ll take a leaf from that (Blatter’s resignation). I think he’s not stupid,” Pamire said.
Footballers’ Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general and living Warriors’ legend Paul Gundani said Dube was at his weakest point since assuming power and the best thing for him now was to step down instead of waiting to be embarrassed by fellow Zifa councillors at an extraordinary general meeting set for June 16.
Gundani said it was a known fact that Dube always spoke highly of the now shamed Blatter, indicating a close working relationship between them. However, with the Fifa boss leaving, the most honourable thing was for Dube to follow suit.
He said Blatter’s fall had crudely exposed Dube.
“Blatter is one guy who gave him (Dube) protection but if you look closely, no one wanted Blatter and the same can be said about the Zifa president. The majority of people don’t want him and the majority of councillors demonstrated that at the meeting they held in Harare. It indicates that they no longer trust his leadership,” said Gundani.
“We’ve said it before that the only honourable thing for him is to voluntarily leave instead of forcing the Zifa general assembly to push him out.”
The former Warriors’ right back said what happened in Zurich was also likely to demotivate some Zifa councillors that were supporting Dube.
“He’ll remain exposed and he’ll definitely be humiliated,” Gundani said.
Former Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Chris Sambo urged the government, through the Sports and Recreation Commission, to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate how the 2010 Zifa elections were conducted.
Sambo said there were huge similarities between accusations that Blatter and Dube are facing.
“The SRC kept telling us that it’ll be tantamount to interference, no, that’s not interference. We’re still adamant that an inquiry must be set up, whose terms of reference will be to investigate the 2010 elections and we’ll keep pressuring the SRC to investigate,” said Sambo.
“Those kind of investigations will help restore confidence in the corporate world, which has lost confidence in our game because of corruption and bribery allegations against the Zifa president,” he said.
Sambo added that Dube should use the forthcoming extraordinary general meeting to voluntarily step down “because he’ll not survive that route unless, of course, bribery plays a central part.”
Sports journalist Phathisani Moyo said while Dube has his shortcomings, he was only the smaller fish in the game.
Moyo said Dube failed to emulate Blatter’s strategy of taking the World Cup to the so-called smaller environs as evidenced by the national teams’ continued use of Harare venues yet the country had other suitable stadia.
“Personally I would fire (Caf president Issa) Hayatou before Cuthbert any day. He’s the one that exerts all manner of pressure and threats on poor African federations to support his dictatorship with Blatter. Cuthbert is a small fish in world football,” said the South Africa-based former Sunday News sports editor.
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