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Thompson Dondo Correspondent
ELECTIONS make people talk and talk about things sometimes that they have no say in. For the ZIFA polls, set for tomorrow, we have talked as a nation, for months now, but the bottom line is that the responsibility lies in the hands of the 58 Councillors who will take part in the elections.
If every football-loving supporter was allowed to vote, I think that we were going to witness an historic election.
In a normal election, if people decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.
Doing the right thing makes you feel good, even if someone will be messed up in the end.
That is the notion on elections but, unfortunately, or rather fortunately, the real owners of the game will not be voting tomorrow.
The Councillors will carry that burden on behalf of the millions of Zimbabwean football fans.
A vote is like a rifle Comrades and its usefulness will depend upon the character of the user. Group up and be like the Rebels. True rebels hate their own rebellion.
They know by experience that it is not a cool and glamorous lifestyle; it takes a courageous fool to say things that have not been said and to do things that have not been done.
Our football has suffered for a long time for obvious reasons.
We have had a business executive running our football in the last five years.
It will honestly take a foolish Councillor again to vote for the wrong person again tomorrow.
We must put in an experienced football Boss who has practiced football management over the years. Business experience is not what is needed.
Money will not be the answer.
In this election, I think that there are four kinds of men vying for this top job.
There is this one that learnt by reading football, tried to manage at some point and failed dismally. Now he wants to try again to manage via social media from some base in South Africa.
The other learnt by actually playing and later by observation over the years.
There is one who actually wants to learn to manage for the first time. Then there is the other one who has been in the trenches of football for a long time.
Yes, the later might have made his mistakes in the past, we all make mistakes, don’t we? Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is what is called experience
A lot has been said about the calibre of our Councillors but who are we to judge them?
They are all football people and to me that is the important aspect. I think football is a religion to them because they live it. And to me that belief called religion is key.
In real life religion is everything.
It has convinced people that we have God, who watches everything that we do and has a special list of ten things He does not want us to do and, if you do any of these things, there is a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where you will forever be dumped.
Councillors must seriously reflect on football and go to sleep this evening with a clear football conscience. Let’s have common football sense taking precedence and let’s vote for football.
What we need is a proper football leader.
You honestly don’t become a national football chief by having attended a few matches over the years. It’s the same thinking that anyone sitting in church can become a Christian. If that is the case then anyone sitting in a garage can become a car.
In the last two elections, there was a lot of bribery talk.
They say that money exchanged hands. No one knows the truth besides you Comrades.
Let’s assume that indeed the ex-Boss paid his way through.
The next question would be to ask, did it benefit him? Did it benefit you as the Councillors? Did it benefit the football followers? The answer is NO.
Didn’t we all grow up understanding that bribes and pay-offs are bad?
And that THE people were supposed to be the focal point of society, not money?
Comrades let’s say “no” to corruption; it does not fit you as football elders! Say “no” to bad leadership; you don’t fit in there, too. Say “no” to immorality, it will only fake us!
Be bold to say “no” if that is what will take your breakfast away, you will get a sweeter lunch pack for compensation sooner rather than later. If any of the aspiring leaders try to bribe you, just accept the money but let football reasoning take precedence.
Take it on, but when you vote let us do it with our heads.
That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.
Do not always be the naïve and get cheated again and again.
Those seeking to win dubiously will always prey on your naivety.
Football is the ballet of the masses. And we all love it. We love the aesthetics of it. We love the athleticism of football.
We love the movement of the players, the antics of the coaches.
We love the dynamism of us as the fans. We love their passion for the badges and the colours of our teams and our country. We love the noise and the buzz and the electricity at Rufaro.
We love the songs. We love the way the ball moves and then it flows and the way teams’ fortune rises and falls through a game and through a season. But what we love most about football is that it brings people together across religious divides, geographic divides, and political divides.
We love the fact that for ninety minutes in a rectangular piece of grass, people can forget hopefully, whatever might be going on in their lives, and rejoice in the communal celebration of humanity.
The biggest diverse, invasive or pervasive culture that human kinds knows is football and we love the fact that at the altar of football human kind can come worship and celebrate.
We respect you Comrade Councillors and hope and trust that you will not disappoint us on Saturday. As a former football administrator, I am trying to talk to you Comrades as someone with practical proven experience.
Vote in the right person to lead us. . . not the rich person.
Dr Dube was probably richer but his leadership style was old fashioned and it did cost us dearly.
In my personal view, Leslie Gwindi is the right person for this Top Job by virtue of his past practical Football administration experience.
Thompson Dondo is the former co-owner, and chief executive, of Premiership side Kiglon Bird and is currently the chief executive of the Impala Group of Companies.
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