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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
FOUR ZIFA board member posts are vacant but by the end of the day today they will have been filled. But who is going to get in and who will miss out? The Herald looks at each and every candidate and what he has promised to offer should they be elected into office.
Beadle Musa Gwasira
The former Lengthens Football Club director has said that the 58 councillors, who will vote today should consider him as he can use his status, as a Harare City councillor, to lobby for some football-friendly by-laws, including the charges that teams pay for using the stadiums that belong to the City of Harare.
The 42-year-old businessman also believes that the experience he gained during one of the toughest times in the era where local football clubs struggled financially cannot go unnoticed.
“I was in the inaugural PSL board of governors in 2010 as a board member as club owners began to sit on the governors’ board following the dissolution of the management committee. The PSL had gone for a season without sponsorship and we got the sponsorship of Castle Lager.
“We approached Mbada Diamonds and we pursued it together with Twine Phiri (PSL chairman) and we also approached DStv although they came on board later when I had left after our team had been relegated.
“I believe I have learnt a lot and can now play a big role in the national body. Football needs to have accountability and transparency with auditors coming in to do books and this is one of the strongest virtues, if pursued, which would see the corporate world coming in to be part of our football,” said Gwasira.
Piraishe Mabhena
THE ZIFA Eastern Region chairperson believes it is crucial that the key points that were raised leading to the revocation of the previous leadership are addressed if the incoming board is to be successful.
The 37-year-old said, if elected, he will support some initiatives starting with the 14 points they raised as councillors before ousting Cuthbert Dube and his fellow board members.
Mabhena also feels that coming from a strong corporate governance background, where he is the head of ICT at Tongat Hullet and working for both Hippo Valley and Triangle as one of senior managers, transparency is his staple food.
“When I took over the chairperson post at Hippo Valley, it was just an ordinary side playing just to entertain the community but then we introduced the new vision of trying to scale greater heights, which unfortunately was only achieved after I had left Hippo Valley to join the regional body but I did play quite a big role setting up that foundation.
“Currently, I am also a board member at Triangle Football Club which you can see have also been vastly transformed and are doing well in the Premiership,” said Mabhena.
Edzai Kasinauyo
The former Warriors midfielder believes the only way Zimbabwe football can solve their problems is by going back to grassroots.
The 40-year-old says football has no shortcuts and there should be planning.
He felt it was time he jumps into the ship and make contributions from inside having been involved with grassroots development for many years now, including the VW Tournament.
He has the backing of Warriors legend Peter Ndlovu, George Mbwando, Edward Sadomba and a number of football stars.
Philemon Machana
He owns and sponsors women’s national league soccer team Cosa Guruve. Machana was also a member of the Mzansi 90 fundraising team.
Machana says his strengths are that he isn’t tainted by corruption.
“I have a strong finance and administration background, qualifications and experience which can be utilised by the board to effectively run the game. I boast more than 10 years experience in sports administration and have done well in sports development, especially where the girl child is concerned. I have helped develop match officials, coaches and young players.
“This I have done so quietly over the years. I love the beautiful game and have invested my personal effort and financial resources into it over the past decade. I am a team player, good listener and will work with anyone who loves to see Zimbabwe football resuscitated,” Machana said.
Jackson Munyaka
He believes he has seen it all from his time as a player, coach and football club owner and now wants to help Zimbabwe football from the boardroom.
He invested a considerable fortune of his personal funds into running a Division One soccer team Power Master when the country’s economic situation was tough.
“After analysing the composition of the aspiring candidates for the board members I saw that there was no technical person on the list and I consulted my fellow coaches and friends in football who encouraged me to enter the race.
“I hope to fight for the coaches, former players, and the supporters to have proper structures which are regional like Soccer Coaches Union of Zimbabwe where membership will be mandatory and work with mobile network service providers to administer the membership payments and provide periodical print outs of the state of membership,” said Munyaka.
Lewis Uriri
CAPS United board chairperson and a top advocate wants to help turn the football association into a sustainable professional entity.
He believes that football is a big industry which should create gainful employment for thousands.
Uriri has been playing a leading role in the Makepekepe cause and is confident that he can also bring transformation at national level.
“From my limited involvement with ZIFA, I have observed that ZIFA’s biggest let-down has been a failure to adhere to the basic tenets of corporate governance, administrative, practice and business enterprise.
“ZIFA have never been run as a business and my primary objective is to have the association run as a business, premised on proper corporate governance principles and I believe that I have what it takes to assist in that regard,” said Uriri.
Wilfred Mukuna
The former referee says he now wants to play an active role on the national administration of local football using his experience he gained since 1984 when he started his career as a referee.
Mukuna, who is still a CAF and FIFA match commissioner, was one of the rare breed of no-nonsense referees before hanging up his boots.
“I have the passion, I want to serve my nation, I have the energy to see ZIFA’s turnaround and I am a servant of the people,” said Mukuna.
Felton Kamambo
The Central Region chairperson is also hoping to be elected as one of the ZIFA board members following a resolution by the four regions that they will push for their regional chairpersons after they played a pivotal role in the ouster of Dube.
However, there has been a lot of electioneering and it appears the councillors have abandoned their agreement and are entertaining and buying into the visions of other candidates.
Musa Mandaza
The Southern Region chairperson would be counting on his experience in the region to be elevated into the national body.
Mandaza believes his region is one of the top regions among the four regions and even boasts of more Premiership clubs than any other region and believes that his work should be repaid.
Joseph Musariri
The 53-year-old beach soccer chairman feels that after leading an affiliate body he is now ripe to serve at a bigger platform. The chief executive of Shipping and Forwarding Agents’ Association of Zimbabwe believes in instilling financial discipline and following the tenets of corporate governance through a straight accounting system monitored by the board.
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