adminIn a speech read on his behalf during the awards ceremony of Bulawayo Province Division Two and Three winners by Zifa vice president Ndumiso Gumede, Dube said corruption is a fatal concoction that threatens the moral fibre of the game.
“Corrupt players and officials have no place in our game. Zimbabwe is smarting from a dark era, which saw the game being auctioned in Asia by local and Asian betting syndicates. The syndicates paid huge sums of money to corrupt officials and players to throw matches during the Asiagate scandal.
“We lost national pride; our CAF and FIFA rankings plummeted to record lows and our game went to the dogs,” he said.
Dube added that local match fixing was another cancer, which needed to be dealt with as it scares away fans and sponsors.
He said the architects of local match-fixing needed to be flushed out of the game without fear or favour.
Dube said the football governing body will adopt a 24/7 surveillance policy on all association football activities.
“We shall never allow our game’s glamour and glory to be sacrificed on the altar of selfishness and greed. No sponsor can support a game that is steeped in corruption and mismanagement,” he added.
Dube said dubious elements seeking financial gain are likely to emerge in the coming months, as elections are barely 12 months away.
“We should be wary of the machinations of the merchants of confusion, division and corruption, whose main brief is to derive material and financial benefits from football.
“Football is not an open cast mine. Any chancers will find football as not so pleasant a place to hang around since the game calls for discipline and sacrifices,” he said.
Dube said there was a need to move away from the “business as usual” culture if football was to assume a business complexion.
He said there is a need to save football from years of financial mismanagement, stagnation and corruption hence football stakeholders should embrace the austerity measures being introduced in Zifa’s 2013 budget.
Dube urged the affiliates to remit statutory levies to the mother body and assist it in getting out of the red adding that once Zifa’s financial position improves they plan to avail grants to service affiliates’ development programmes.
He said the Zimbabwe Football Trust, set to be unveiled before the end of the year, would mobilize human material and financial resources for football in the country.
The trust will take over the association’s $4 million debt and attend to other areas such as human capital development, marketing, merchandise and take care of national teams.
Present at the awards ceremony were provincial chairman Horace Ndubiwa, secretary Washington Sithole, board member finance Siphambaniso Dube, Buymore Investments representative Wavell Gunda, Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze, Zimbabwe Women Football vice chairperson Cecelia Malunga and provincial officer Augustine Ndlovu among others.
The winners and runners up of the two leagues were awarded medals and shields donated by Dube’s company, Buymore Investments.
CS Distributors won promotion to Division Two after coming first last year in Division Three while the runners up in the same league, Casymn Mine were also elevated.
Ajax Hotspurs and Bulawayo Jumbos came first and second respectively in Division Two and were promoted into the Southern Region Division One league.
Online Reporter