admin
Sports Reporter
When the death knell tolled on Zimbabwe’s World Cup Qualifier against South Africa in windy Bloemfontein recently, this was a clear sign not just of the times especially after the loss to Lesotho four days earlier but also of the ineptitude of the Zimbabwe Football Association Normalisation Committee.
And it surely dawned on all that there is now a clear and present need for substantive leadership at Zifa! The Normalisation Committee (NC) has proven beyond doubt its ineptitude precipitating football’s continued downward spiral. However, after the end of their original term, there was an extension, but an election road map and effective leadership still look far beyond the horizon.
Established by Fifa in consultation with the Sports and Recreation Commission and led by former Dynamos boss, Lincoln Mutasa and including two respected former footballers, Rosemary Mugadza and Sikhumbuzo Ndebele, this pair of losses by the Warriors exposed the NC continued failure to fulfil their mandate: to restart football in the country.
For, while football was being played in the local leagues, the national team was in the wilderness as a consequence of a Fifa ban after the SRC had suspended the elected Felton Kamambo-led board. One of the key terms of reference of this committee was a roadmap that would return the nation to an elected leadership. Yet the NC seems more seized with everything else but an election roadmap. An administrative vacuum precipitated by the obvious power vacuum is becoming more evident by the day.
What has the NC done during their tenure? Fired old members of staff. Hired new members of staff. Moved a cash-strapped national association from a property it owns to a rented one. Hired three coaches for about seven matches.
Fought over who should coach the national team. Hired a new technical director — a man whose only claim to football fame is the success he enjoyed with Zimbabwe Saints during his playing days in the late 1980s. And hired a “new” technical advisor — a man who famously refused to work with one when he coached the national team. The NC has, however, earned thousands of United States Dollars while they are at it!
What have they not done? Create an election roadmap. Bring normalcy. And with this malaise comes the obvious: regressing the gains of experienced football administrators. Oh, how the good times are sorely missed! And with this regression comes the ever-quickening downward slide.
Failure on the field was expected given the time spent away from international competitions, but failure due to uncoordinated administrative decisions, which has suggested that members of the NC have no idea what they are doing there, was not on the table.
This is the same NC that has in Ndebele not just a retired player in its ranks. But a retired player who has all the paper qualifications to be the Superman of local football administration, but is barely making a whimper — for all his now evidently over-stated qualifications, football is none the better with him at such a high leadership position.
While Zimbabweans are inherently patriotic, failures by the NC have taken their toll on football lovers’ faith. Ahead of the Lesotho and South Africa matches, the flicker of optimism ignited by solid performances in Rwanda, the chaos that began with Jairos Tapera’s appointment, included the exclusion of the country’s top goal scorer, Lynoth “Sonji’”Chikhuwa was extinguished. Many a Zimbabwean was not convinced the Warriors would get a point from the possible six!
Online Reporter