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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
MEMBER of Parliament Temba Mliswa has poked holes into the report by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation directing the Sports and Recreation Commission to reinstate the recalled ZIFA board members led by former president, Felton Kamambo.
The report titled “The State of football Administration in Zimbabwe”, triggered a fierce debate which nearly divided the house into two, when it was brought up for debate on Tuesday.
Some members were calling for the adoption of the same for immediate readmission to FIFA while the other group vigorously shot down the recommendations and suggested that incompetence and corruption that had almost brought the game on its knees should be dealt with first, before considering a return to international football.
Mliswa, who has strong roots in sports as an athlete and administrator and has previously worked as chairman of the sports portfolio committee, felt the report was not done thoroughly.
“The reason why I bring this up is that the report by the Portfolio Committee is totally biased,” he said.
“It is not thorough, I have studied it and I will now go into the merits and demerits of that report. If there is anything, it was a political report.
“It had factual errors, a couple of misrepresentations especially on the sexual harassment issue,” he said in reference to the allegations of sexual abuse against female referees which led to the recent five-year ban of former referees’ secretary, Obert Zhoya, by FIFA.
“The issue of women being abused is serious in sport but they could not even stand for the women to be involved in sport.”
Apparently, the ZIFA board led by Kamambo has been accused by the SRC of wickedly sweeping the allegations under the carpet.
The issue was one of the many transgressions which led to the suspension of the ZIFA board by the Sports Commission last year. The board also faced corruption charges and financial mismanagement, among a chain of misdemeanours.
However, the move by the Sports Commission attracted a ban from FIFA who interpreted the decision as third-party interference. FIFA demanded that the suspended board be reinstated as well as to drop all the corruption charges at the courts.
However, Mliswa said the Sports Commission, which has since begun a restructuring exercise, took the correct decision, and should not be pressured by the FIFA demands, in their quest to bring sanity to football administration. He said the Committee’s report did not take into consideration the supremacy of the country’s laws over FIFA statutes.
“This report invalidates the SRC Act and its power to the International Federation and undermines our national law and sovereignty.
“Our national laws and sovereignty, they are busy supporting international laws. If they believe that they want to be international — they are free to be international and to be part of this global thing but as long as they are here, Zimbabwe’s laws are superior, they fit into the international laws. So, let us start with respecting our laws first,” said Mliswa.
The sports administrator-cum-politician also said the shadowy cartels that run football should be dismantled if sanity is to prevail.
“They (corrupt football leaders) have a tendency of going, FIFA, and sport as we know, is run by the mafia. You cannot run sport if you are not part of the mafia.
“You know from (former FIFA president name supplied). We have seen the FIFA president being in this country. It is a group of Mafia, people who believe in it and very dangerous in that regard.
“It is a powerful sport. They have abused and used it, and so equally, there is also a mafia group in Zimbabwe that is aligning itself with the mafia of international sport, especially with FIFA…
“The money from FIFA has been coming to this country. Where is it going? There is a ZIFA village. Why has the Portfolio Committee not done an enquiry on the money that was given for the ZIFA village? Where did the money go?
“Then you still want companies to put money where people are busy dipping their hands – that will not happen. It is no wonder why sport is poor.
“Sport requires people of integrity, people of great social standing, people who are passionate, people who can account and people who are transparent.
“For as long as those values are not inculcated in individuals running sport, they will not get money. I would never support a company that puts money into people who steal. You would rather just keep that money,” said Mliswa.
He said the allegations of sexual abuse of female officials should be looked into seriously.
“So, FIFA itself, which they are appealing – slammed a Zimbabwean referee with a five years ban. What did they say? So why are they not standing up for that referee? FIFA exercises its powers to be able to do that. Let it work on its power and let us allow our own laws to also be effected,” said Mliswa.
The Norton legislator said the ZIFA Congress and forensic audit that is currently underway should guide the football leadership on the way forward.
“The BDO forensic audit report as well as the ultimate ZIFA Congress, whose authority over football issues, the committee does not appear to understand or appreciate deliberately or otherwise. There is a structure; there are elections which they go to.
“Forensic Audit is important; the BDO of Forensic Audit does not support them in any way. Instead of them complying and working on their weaknesses, they are determined on other things.”
However, former ZIFA vice-president Omega Sibanda, who was part of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee that produced the report, maintained that the Sports Commission should stop their involvement in ZIFA affairs and facilitate immediate reinstatement by FIFA.
“Madam Speaker, I say if you look for ways of solving the ZIFA issue without being emotional, without personalising sports, I agree with other Hon. Members who talked here and said we need to revoke this suspension and negotiate and move forward.
“These Committees which have been set will never solve any football things. As I speak, even if Kamambo the President drops dead today, I am not saying he is to die, FIFA will remain sustaining us if Machanaz (former ZIFA board member Finance) and every one decides to leave ZIFA today and say we have resigned, we remain suspended, we reinstate them in absentia that is what we do.
“We cannot make Zimbabweans happy because of doing wrong things. Clubs PSL clubs are spending huge monies going Kariba, Bulawayo and wherever spending monies on social footballs.
“We cannot continue allowing this. Now Platinum is on the verge of qualifying to play in Africa but the truth is that they are not going to play anywhere near international football.
“We are missing a lot in terms of funding junior development. I admit that spending some of the money which was meant for junior development never found its way to the process, agreed but these are things that we can solve without causing suspension.
“I am saying that there were better solutions in SRC than radical decisions that are killing football. They were supposed to write a letter they are allowed to communicate with ZIFA noting their observations…. I request that please let us find sanity in football.
“Let us revoke all what happened between SCR and ZIFA, let us find ourselves and move forward as a country. I thank you,” said Sibanda.
Southerton Member of Parliament Peter Moyo differed. He said bringing back Kamambo without exhausting the investigations into allegations of corruption was tantamount to condoning the vice.
“I almost joined the Premier League because I am into sport. I support football. It is a very good sport. I played football when I was a young man. I see a lot of unscrupulous activities being done by Kamambo and colleagues.
“Such corrupt and embarrassing activities are very disappointing and I feel the pain in my heart. All the things that were being mentioned by others that no one can be bought — those are lies — We are wasting national funds protecting criminals. These are criminals. This is criminality….
“On behalf of my constituency that does not favour corruption, that does not stand in for corruption, we say we will not and never entertain such behaviour from such officials. We should send a clear signal. Our country has been destroyed and left in shambolic state because of corruption. We would like to support what was done by our Minister (Kirsty Coventry).
Harare North legislator Norman Allan Markham, who was once involved in football administration during his days at the Town Council also voiced his concern about the levels of corruption in football.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, I just want to bring to the attention of the House that the shocking thing is we waited until we were banned by FIFA.
“I find it shocking because the rot in football seems sorely from the administration. The administration has destroyed football to its knees. There is not a stadium here that would pass any international standard.
“We have administration which loots the coffers dry. I will give you an example, when I was with the City of Harare, the football team was doing quite well to the extent that they got into playing against a club in Madagascar.
“The delegation that went over there by the law could not be more than 45. City of Harare tried to take 54 people. They took more than 45, I assure you.
“They went via Johannesburg with a stopover but where is Harare football now. This is the shocking corruption that is happening in our sports facilities. So in our management, we have to sort out the corruption,” said Markham.
Magwegwe constituency member of parliament Anele Ndebele said Kamambo and his colleagues should not be seen anywhere near football administration, especially after their mandate was revoked by the ZIFA Congress.
“I am equally grateful to central Government for the support that they rendered to the SRC in their efforts at cleaning local football in particular.
“Mr. Speaker, I wish to state unreservedly that I am shocked to discover that there are some members of this House who are clearly trying to use this motion to smuggle back the beleaguered and disgraced Kamambo board to ZIFA House.
“It is shocking, I must say. It is important to accept that we have taken the back step, gotten banned from international activities; but if it is what it takes to clean local football, then let it be Mr Speaker Sir….
“I wish to look at what transpired at ZIFA through a legal lens Mr. Speaker Sir. I realise the ZIFA itself has a constitution and of course, the fact that the interim board, in pursuit of the provisions of that constitution held at the beginning of the year, I think in April, an Emergency General Meeting.
“It was at that Emergency General Meeting that the mandate of the Kamambo led board was revoked. So, they acted in accordance to their constitution and so, it is too late for any member, a well-meaning Member of this Parliament to try and bring ghosts back to ZIFA House.
“Their mandate is dead, it is gone and Hon. Members must accept that. It was revoked in accordance to the ZIFA Constitution,” said Ndebele.
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