adminDalphine Tagwireyi Sports Reporter
A GOVERNMENT initiative to introduce a stand-alone sports ministry last year was received with much joy and jubilation by almost all the sporting codes in this country.The sporting fraternity felt that suddenly there was light at the end of the tunnel of financial difficulties that have almost rocked every sporting sector in this country.
However, all the excitement has been replaced by hopelessness as there is nothing much that has come from a ministry that had promised much but delivered little.
Tomorrow the Under-19 Boys’ Youth African Nations Championships will kick off in Tunisia and the Zimbabwe team will be conspicuous by its absence at the tournament. The tournament will be used as qualifiers for the Boys’ Under-19 World Championships in Argentina next August.
The Zimbabwe Volleyball Association could not register for the tournament after failing to raise the necessary funds needed for the team to take off as well as to cater for their needs during the course of the tournament.
ZVA secretary-general Ringisai Mapondera reiterated that lack of funding was hindering international exposure and growth of the country’s representative volleyball teams.
“Last year the association failed to raise $15 000 to send four Under-23 players for the World Championships in Poland and efforts to get assistance from the Government have proved futile as the Sport, Arts and Culture ministry have indicated that it did not have the money to assist teams,” said Mapondera.
Mapondera said the association was still waiting for direction from the ministry, which for the past two years has not addressed problems affecting the sporting fraternity in the country, with their presence only felt at workshops.
“We have missed out on several tournaments on the international arena because no assistance has come from the ministry but our neighbours Botswana, Swaziland and Zambia are allocated funds for their various sporting disciplines and we continue lagging behind,” he said, adding that they had given up all hope of getting assistance from the ministry.
He said the association relied on donations from volleyball lovers who were part of the executive board.
“We still await fulfilment of financial obligations from the ministry as nothing has been injected into our coffers and hence we will not take part in some international tournaments because we do not have the necessary funds to assist in international trips,” he said.
It is quite evident that the Zimbabwe Football Association is not alone in the financial crisis matters as many other national teams continue to find themselves in the same predicament as they do not have the financial resources to fulfil international engagements on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo