SRC condemn rogue athlete

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE Sports Commission have condemned the conduct of Team Zimbabwe athlete Kenneth Chibwana who is alleged to have assaulted visually impaired Luck Chitimbe at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi as the team was on its way from the African Games on Monday.

Although it is not clear what led Chibwana to assault Chitimbe, who lost a tooth, Sports Commission board chairperson Edward Siwela said action will be taken against the athlete.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the act of violence perpetrated on one of the visually-impaired athletes by one athlete, one Kenneth Chibwana. There can be no room for such indiscipline in sport.

“People partake in sport because it is supposed to be fun and when acts of violence are perpetrated against the weak it destroys the very essence of sport.

“We have agreed that as SRC we will ensure that a very strong message is sent to would-be perpetrators of violence through deterrent measures,” said Siwela.

Siwela said they were also concerned with the withdrawal of some athletes from the team which he believes might have had negative effects on the team’s overall performance and added that measures will be put in place to avoid such challenges in the future.

“We are concerned that in a number of disciplines, athletes withdrew for a number of reasons, including college commitments and injury.

“While some of the excuses may have been genuine, we are convinced that in some cases athletes may have, for reasons known to themselves, failed to put the country first.

“We strongly believe that it is a great honour to represent one’s country and so going forward, we would like to find out measures that can be put in place to motivate athletes to take up the challenge to do their nation proud.

“We note in particular that some PSL clubs withdrew their players at the last-minute leaving us to go and compete at continental level with a weakened side.

We need to have unity of purpose if we are to become a successful nation in sport.

“We are also informed that some of the athletes were not well prepared for the competition.

“It is important that the national sports associations in general and the technical staff appointed to represent the nation do a thorough job not only on the selection of athletes but also in preparing athletes for competition.

“In a few cases, unfit or injured athletes found their way to the Games.

“We need to strengthen our systems so as to ensure that only serious podium contenders make it to such high profile events. We should aim to win medals and not just focus on participation.

“Winning such competitions motivates the nation to give their best in whatever they do and this translates to a winning nation and that’s the direction we would like sport to take in Zimbabwe,” Siwela said.

The Sports Commission chairperson, however, commended the team for their efforts after amassing nine medals including three gold medals won by Kirsty Coventry in swimming.

Chef de mission to Team Zimbabwe, Joseph Muchechetere, said they will make recommendations to the Sports Commission based on the code of contact and contracts signed by the athletes when they became part of the team in reference to the case of Chibwana.

“The Sports and Recreation Commission has already made a decision, they are going to announce soon what course of action to be taken.

“Obviously, when an athlete or team comes to be member of Team Zimbabwe they are also guided by the code of conduct and they also sign contracts.

“So from that basis we will also sit down and make recommendations to SRC.

“Then SRC is also going to take a decision and its going to be announced so that the whole country, the athletes themselves and the national associations are able to see how serious the SRC take issues to do with violence in sport.

“This is unacceptable we will not condone such bad behaviour.

“We have to really take a position and at the same time communicate to the public that this is not acceptable. Very soon that is going to be made known to the public,” said Muchechetere.

Sports and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane said he has directed the Sports Commission to investigate reports that some of the athletes who made it to Congo Brazzaville were injured.

“We want to congratulate our team that won a complement of nine medals, we want to extend our congratulations to them.

“I have however, directed the SRC to investigate reports that some athletes travelled to Congo Brazzaville whilst they were carrying injuries on them.

“So I have directed SRC to have a look into that to understand why that happened and how that may have prejudiced the ability of our team to bring the highest complement of medals for our country,” said Hlongwane.

The Minister said it was important that the nation do well at such competitions instead of just going there to make up the numbers.

Zimbabwe’s medals came from swimming, with Kirsty Coventry leading the way, tennis and sport for people living with disability.