adminA MASSIVE 300 million cents total the US$3 million that the Premier Service Medical Aid Society was ordered to pay its former chief executive Dr Cuthbert Dube by the Arbitration Court.
PSMAS has since appealed against arbitrator Dumisani Nyoni’s verdict and yours truly will be closely following the matter.
This legal battle would not have mattered to Va Shagare if this Dube was not the same man superintending over the demise of Zimbabwean football.
If this Dube was different from the Dube who is accused of using money to buy his way into office and occasionally fund national team trips this legal battle would not have aroused interest in the columnist.
However, it’s the same Cuthbert Elkana Dube and I am so into it! One would hope that the 300 million cents that could be coming his way will knock some 300 million senses into the Zifa president.
The financial kingdom that recently crumbled used to run with the catch line “making money, make sense.”
A massive 300 million senses would be a welcome addition into Dube’s grey-haired head because the man is going about business like the infamous drunken master.
Dube is looking everything through political eyes and the result has been a hilarious disaster.
At the rate at which things are unfolding at Zifa, we will wake up one day to news that Jonathan Mashingaidze has been appointed as the new Warriors coach because he is politically correct.
At a time when the country should be preparing for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers the biggest story in Zimbabwean football today is the purge on his perceived enemies by Dube and his clique. And you wonder why our team always performs dismally?
Malawi announced their Afcon training squad on the same day that some members of the Zimbabwe Women Football tried to suspend Miriam Sibanda on frivolous allegations.
Charges, if we may call them that, against Sibanda and the duo of Ben Mamoshe and Edwin Magosvongwe, include the alleged misuse of a US$60 000 sponsorship donation, trying to overthrow a legitimately elected Zifa president, trying to incite the Government to intervene in the running of football and ultimately lead to the country being banned by Fifa.
She was also accused of “harbouring anti football persons”, fanning factionalism in local football and launching attacks on Dube, Zifa chief executive Mashingaidze as well as the technical director Takaendesa Jongwe.
There is also the laughable one of bringing the game of football into disrepute by communicating with Fifa. Has Zifa become a political organisation?
Terms such as fanning factionalism and trying to overthrow a legitimately elected president are synonymous with the political arena.
We are in trouble, deep trouble.
Revelations that ZWF Matabeleland South chairperson Samukele Sibanda was labelled a Gamatox and threatened with expulsion after refusing to sign a petition calling for the suspension of Sibanda confirms that politics is taking precedence ahead of football at 53 Livingstone Avenue.
If Dube is going political then a political decision should get him out of office!
Uhuru Cup drama
It’s shocking that no one has cared to explain what exactly went down at the National Sports Stadium during the Uhuru Cup final last Saturday.
The final was disconnected following a power cut at the giant facility and without trying to cause a storm, some of us suspect foul play.
Of all days someone at Zesa decided to effect some load-shedding on April 18; enforce the load-shedding in the middle of an absorbing final between Dynamos and FC Platinum. Maybe, just maybe, there was no foul play but Zesa’s silence on the matter makes some of us suspect that a hidden hand was at play.
The Uhuru Cup drama has exposed Zifa once again with the association taking time to make a determination on the matter before coming up with another shocker.
The final will be replayed on Wednesday May 13, the match starts afresh with a goalless scoreboard and — wait for this — fans will have to pay their way into Rufaro!
“It is also imperative to note that we also looked at costs hence we found it necessary to charge for entry to this game and the gate charges will be as follows: Rest of the ground US$2; Upper Grand Stand US$5; Very Important Persons US$10.
“We also appeal to the football fraternity and the nation at large to proffer the same support they had given on 18 April by coming in large numbers to witness the exhilarating encounter,” Zifa said in a statement.
Fellow Zimbabweans, how can we pay to watch the Independence Cup final, replay or no replay?
Has this become a fundraising exercise?
Someone has to pick up the tab of staging the replay and it doesn’t have to be the fans.
Hell no!
The Independence Celebrations ended prematurely at the NSS last Saturday and the replay is a continuation of that giant party.
If we didn’t pay to enter the NSS last Saturday to hear Gushungo speak and watch DeMbare square up against Pure Platinum Play, we will not pay to watch the replay. That should be the message from the fans.
VaShagare exits the scene.
VaShagare is the founder of DeMbare DotComs and can be contacted on that Facebook page as well as the email [email protected]
Online Reporter