adminis being run across the country.
Currently, there is no recognised national executive for the Zimbabwe National Bodybuilding and Fitness Association and the meeting scheduled for September 23 at the National Sports Stadium is set to usher in an interim executive.
The interim executive is then expected to set the ground for the holding of elections that should bring in a substantive executive under a new constitution.
At the moment, the sport is being run by a working group headed by Kays Rushika, with Claude Shambare coming in as the general-secretary.
Mashonaland Bodybuilding and Fitness Association president Tofara Moyo, Ish Abdullah, Duncan Motsi, Stephen Chingwingwi and John Mhangwa are also helping out.
But with no clearly defined duties for the members, dereliction has been the order of the day and the Sports Commission is now moving in to crack its whip on the errant affiliate.
Last week the association failed to send four athletes to represent Zimbabwe at the Muscle Mania Africa contest in Kampala, Uganda after failing to raise enough funds.
Mr Iron Man, Vincent Kandiyero, runner-up Issac ‘Sugar” Chimuchenga, Eddie Marondera and Ms Iron Man, Christine Matanga had missed the dream chance last Saturday.
Shambare said only Kandiyero had managed to secure airfares while Chimuchenga had to pull out after being involved in a road accident three weeks ago.
Shambare said the meeting is aimed at bringing most of the gym owners, judges, instructors, sponsors and administrators together to map the way forward.
“At the moment the sport is not moving much because of bottlenecks in administration. The Sports Commission has called for a meeting where all stakeholders will meet so that we regularise our operations of the sport.
“We have invited people from all provinces who include, the trainers, judges and provincial executives.
“The major thrust of the meeting is to adopt the constitution and have it registered with the Sports Commission.
“All along, bodybuilding was being run by a working group of hand-picked individuals but some members are just dead wood.
“Very few of us are still active in running the sport while I feel some just want to hang to the posts yet contributing nothing and in the process killing the sport.
“I feel that we need people who are driven by passion to move the sport forward from the local gyms to through the provinces right to the national executive,” said Shambare.
Sports Commission’s manager for sports development Angela Nyaundi is expected to co-ordinate the meeting that is likely to have representatives from the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and the Zimbabwe Paralympic Committee.
“The main thrust of the interim executive should be to run the Mr Zimbabwe which has been planned for October 29 in Victoria Falls. If anything, the interim executive should be in office for three months before we hold elections.
“At the moment the Sports Commission is not recognising the provincial structures and we hope to clear those issues at the meeting,” said Shambare.
Shambare believes ZNBBFA and Sports Commission should be able to come up with ways to regulate the operations of bodybuilding and aerobics.
“Provinces have executives but the Sports Commission is not duly recognising them because ZNBBFA has not yet complied with some requirements. The Sports Commission want an affiliation fee of
US$5 per year for everyone who works out in the gym whether for leisure or competition. The main idea is to inspect the facilities and assess the instructors, especially at some of the so-called backyard gyms,” said Shambare.
Online Reporter