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Caroline Magenga Sports Reporter
ZIFA chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze knew that Zimbabwe did not fulfil the requirements of the Confederation of African Football to host the 2017 Nations Cup finals, but let the association pursue the ambitious project even though he was aware the mission was doomed.Mashingaidze also advised ZIFA presiden, Cuthbert Dube, board members and members of the association’s assembly of Zimbabwe’s bid to host the tournament after he had already accepted a directive, which he claims came from Government, for the country to bid for the 2017 Nations Cup finals.
By the time Mashingaidze officially advised Dube, the ZIFA board and the assembly of the 2017 Nations Cup bid on September 19 this year, a bid committee, of which he was a member, had already been formed and a decision had been reached for joint bid to be made with Zambia.
The ZIFA chief executive has exposed himself to charges that he usurped the powers of the ZIFA board and the assembly by committing the association to launching a bid to host the 2017 Nations Cup after having, as he claims, been directed by Government to submit the bid.
Crucially, Mashingaidze stands accused of failing to provide the advisory role, which a person in his office should give to the Government, given that he knows more about the requirements for such an exercise.
CAF said our bid did not meet the stipulated criteria.
This week, in his defence to the part he played in the doomed bid, Mashingaidze turned his guns on the people he claimed were “prophets of doom, who never believed in the project,” who “rubbished the combined efforts of all stakeholders behind the bid, but . . . ignored the fact that football has the potential to bring the nation together towards national development.”
However, a letter that he wrote to Dube on September 19, this year, shows that Mashingaidze also didn’t believe in the project but, somehow, pushed it to go through.
“The Confederation of African Football requires that any nation desirous to host the 2017 African Cup of Nations should have previously hosted any one of the following tournaments:
1. African Nations Championships
2. Under-17 African Youth Championships
3. Under-20 African Youth Championships
4. African Women Championships
5. Under-23 Championships
‘ZIFA have never hosted any of the aforementioned, but submitted, without success, bids for the 2000 and 2010 African Cup of Nations.
“Zimbabwe will need to make a very strong case with CAF in respect of this bid. Besides, the Association could go for a joint bid with Zambia. Zambia’s fate, in respect of their 2019 bid, is going to be known today, Friday, 19th September, 2014.
“A lean Technical Committee comprising Zimbabwe Football, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Sport and Recreation Commission and Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture has since been established to drive the preparations of the 2017 African Bid document. The bid document should be deposited at CAF Headquarters by the 30th September 2014. Once the bid is deposited with CAF, a big bid committee drawing its members from various publics will be put in place to sell the bid around Africa.
“The bid committee is now seized with obtaining all letters of Government Guarantees from Line Ministries by no later than Wednesday, 24th September 2014.
“The most important letter of guarantee, bearing the signature of the Head of State, was obtained today, Friday, 19th September 2014. Your esteemed office, the Board and the entire football family shall be kept updated on the developments around the bid.”
Mashingaidze, in that letter, said the Government had “advised the Zimbabwe Football Association, on behalf of Zimbabwe, to host the tournament,” and directed “that a high-powered delegation, comprising officials from Zimbabwe Football Association, Sport Recreation Commission and Zimbabwe Travel Authority travel to Zambia to meet our counterparts to discuss the possibility of co-hosting the 2017 tournament.”
Meanwhile, 20 training bibs, donated by FIFA, and attached over a debt owed to former employee Nicollete Moyo-Dhlamini, are part of ZIFA property set to be disposed through a public auction next week.
The property is set to go under the hammer, through KM Auctions, at their premises in Graniteside on Wednesday, November 25.
Under case number number HC 6169-14, Nicolette Moyo-Dhlamini v Zifa, the property set to be sold include a wooden desk, HP desktop, HP printer, filing cabinet, three- piece leather sofa, glass table, lawnmower, data card3 3P 75 plus printer, a two-piece wooden desk, a filing cabinet, one full box containing 20 FIFA bibs, data card SP7Splus printer.
Eight black bags, 23 soccer balls, 19 green Adidas shorts, 20 blue Adidas shorts, various DVDs and magazines, 23 white shorts, 29 green shorts (Legea), four yellow Puma shorts and 10 yellow jerseys, will also be sold.
Moyo-Dhlamini was dismissed two years ago by the local football mother governing body.
She won an arbitration award in July this year after her lawyer Kumbirai Masasire of Musoni and Masasire Legal Chambers successfully argued that she was unfairly dismissed.
ZIFA spokesman Xolisani Gwesela referred The Herald to the association’s lawyer Ralph Maganga.
“I am not in a position to comment, call Maganga . . . he deals with the legal issues and he will give you ZIFA’s position,” Gwesela said.
Maganga, however, said the goods on auction were not going to be sold as Zifa are currently engaged in talks with Moyo-Dhlamini.
“As ZIFA the position is that we are still engaging in negotiations with the judgment creditor (Moyo-Dhlamini) and those negotiations have so far been yielding positive results.
“The fact that the auction was advertised doesn’t mean that the goods are going to be sold, that is just a procedure that had to be followed. That property will not be sold because so far negotiations are proving to be fruitful and they are still ongoing,” Maganga said.
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