War at Harare City football Club

morale, which could explain the team’s poor performance.
There is no clear reporting structure for the team, which does not have a management unit, as is the case with other Premier League teams. Some councilors, led by chief whip Victor Chifodya, are against assigning management duties of the team to public relations manager Leslie Gwindi.

They argue Gwindi wants to lead the team for personal glory and to fight his boardroom wars with the Zifa leadership.
The matter was discussed in a full council meeting on Monday where the council was supposed to endorse a resolution by the information and publicity committee to assign management of the team to the public relations department headed by Gwindi.

The committee argued that the team should be under Gwindi “for purposes of administration, building the Harare brand, image making and projection of Harare’s goodwill”.

But that resolution sparked a stormy debate and exposed the suspicions and mistrust between officials and councilors.
Councilor Peter Moyo tried to douse the anger among his colleagues by calling for calm but that did not help matters as councilors felt Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda should lead the team given his high sporting profile.

He said the city should put in place clear structures for the management of the team.
His deputy, Emmanuel, Chiroto said Masunda should source for funding from his many business associates.
But others felt that all the council should make full use of all the people with football experience in its structures.

Harare boasts of high-profile soccer administrators and trainers such as national team goalkeepers’ trainer Richard Tswatswa, Zivanai “Zifa” Chiyangwa, Alois Masepe, Gwindi and Masunda.

Gwindi is quoted in the minutes arguing that the public relations department was the most appropriate home for the team “as the purpose of having a football team for any organisation was to promote the organisation’s brand”. He said other teams owned by corporates were housed in the corporate affairs departments of those organisations.

But there are fears among the councilors that the team will lose a number of players during the mid-season transfer window period due to the problems facing the club.