Zifa to set up Football Trust

Football Trust that will ensure the association would not have to always rely solely on their president Cuthbert Dube to fund the Warriors’ operations.
The Zifa assembly, meeting at their first annual indaba at a Harare hotel at the weekend, acknowledged that it was not sustainable for Dube to continue financing the local football mother body’s obligations and also cater for the national teams’ various assignments. Both the Zifa board, which met on Friday and the Zifa assembly, concurred that the association needed to find innovative ways to raise funds and also lure corporate backing in order to cater for such assignments like the Warriors’ on-going 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign. In a rare no-holds barred indaba, the councillors also gave their input on the route they feel the domestic game should take and strongly deplored allegations of divisions within the board.
One of the longest serving Zifa councillors Austin Chishanga from Midlands also warned that the assembly – local football’s top policy-making body – would not tolerate bickering and divisions in the leadership.
Chishanga noted that a divided board could not drive Zifa’s vision for football and brought a negative perception about the game that has been bleeding with little corporate support.
“We have warned as the constituency that voted the board into office that anyone bent on bringing the game into disrepute risks facing suspension by the assembly,” Chishanga said.
But it was the decision by the assembly to ratify a board decision to set up a Football Trust that should be commended given that on the two occasions that the Warriors qualified for the Nations Cup in 2004 and 2006, they had a trust that catered for their resources. Dube said unlike in the past, when previous Trusts were solely for the Warriors, the envisaged committee would cater for all the national teams. The Zifa decision to set up a trust that would be co-coordinated through the office of their patron and State Vice-President John Nkomo also came in the wake of worrying reports that Dube had has had to dig deep into his pockets to fund the soccer mother body’s operations in the last 12 months.
“We believe that once we have established the Football Trust, it will take over mobilising of resources for national teams as was the case in 2004 and 2006 instead of that being the responsibility of an individual.
“We will also recommend to the patron (Vice-President Nkomo) that it be named the Football Trust of Zimbabwe so that it does not focus on the Warriors only, we also want to be mindful of junior football and our junior policy,” Dube said.
Dube also noted that the assembly had been grateful for the sacrifices he had made to sustain Zifa and the national teams’ obligations.
“Oh yes, they (the assembly) were very grateful that we engaged to fund the trip to Mali after the sources that we had been hoping to get money from did not provide that. But it was clear that this is a national association and the president alone should not be burdened.
“It is unfortunate that we lost to Mali but I believe if we had not given them their allowances and incentives it could have diverted the boys from focusing on the game but the margin of the defeat suggests that they fought hard in that game,” Dube said.
It also emerged that the board resolved at the end of their marathon meeting to endorse the appointment of Norman Mapeza as the Warriors substantive coach.
“The board itself had a hard look at the negative perception that it was divided between North and South and they categorically denied the divisions and reiterated that they also used the meeting to endorse Mapeza’s appointment.
“They said that when we finalise the coach’s contract this week, it must be performance-related and taking note of the team’s performance in the Nations Cup qualifiers. Council was even more unanimous on Mapeza’s appointment and directed that his reporting structure should also be clarified so that there is no confusion with the coach having to report to a lot of people day to day”.
Mapeza, Dube also revealed, would be sent for an attachment to an as yet unnamed foreign destination for a course between June and September as part of Zifa’s capacity building efforts.
“Immediately after our home game against Mali on 5 June we are seconding Mapeza to a country where he will get more qualifications and experience so that he becomes fully fledged.
“We have no major assignments between June and September and he can use that time to gain more experience. We also want to resource the coach so that he can do a proper surveillance of the players be it in South Africa or Europe now that his appointment has been fully endorsed”.
Acting chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, Dube said, would become the substantive head of the secretariat with effect from April 1 while more appointments at the Zifa headquarters will follow in the coming month.