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Phillip Mbofana in Warsaw, POLAND
THE move by the ZIFA councillors to remove some of the negative elements among the ZIFA Executive Committee is a very welcome development although this is just the first step in resolving the bigger problems that have decimated the beautiful game in Zimbabwe.
All fair minded people would probably agree that the trio of ousted ZIFA president Felton Kamambo, Philemon Machana and Bryton Malandule had become the latest men who had put personal interests first at the expense of the game at large in our country.
Given the fact that the Sports and Recreation Commission superintends over all sport in the country on behalf the Government surely it boggles the mind that the trio could not throw in the towel after the entire Executive Commmittee was suspended by the Sports Commission.
I guess nearly everyone serving personal interests could have hung on given the fact that there are some rich pickings and luxuries to be enjoyed as part of the CAF and FIFA delegates at major continental and world events like the recently AFCON tournament held in Cameron and the upcoming World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year.
Now that the ZIFA Congress, through their Extraordinary General Meeting held last Saturday have exercised their mandate to recall part of the Executive Commmitte (though long overdue), we can only hope just probably it is the first step towards normalising all that has gone wrong with our football from the lowest structures where development no longer exists to the national team where the Warriors are now known for just making the numbers at continental tourneys.
It should be noted that the ZIFA Congress (Assembly) are also part of the problem as they have delegated their duty to the Executive Commmittee where they have become subservient to it instead of the other way round.
While it is important for ZIFA to be readmitted into the world football body FIFA, we should not place that ahead of fixing fundamental problems that have led us to this mess today.
First of all, we have allowed dubious characters to come and run our football because of their political and financial power.
There is a clear guideline as to who should be at the helm of the Zimbabwean football mother body but through manipulation and total disregard of the statutes, we have had characters with almost zero football knowledge and expertise being allowed to lead the game.
The Sports Commission’s Restructuring Committee set up to assist ZIFA should now work closely with the ZIFA Assembly so that the constitution is adhered to the letter and if in need review some of the statutes which exclude important stakeholders such as junior football and coaches.
The councillors themselves need a fresh mandate and as it’s an open secret that some of them are now career councillors who have been manipulating the system to stay in leadership positions just for their ego at the expense of meaningful contribution to the development of the game.
Vote buying, intimidation, and political interference should be stopped if we are to have genuine football leaders. We have so many former footballers, coaches, referees, and all those part of the football umbrella, should be given an equal opportunity to contest for positions at all levels of leadership.
The ZIFA elections were due in March this year but due to blatant disregard of the football laws, we find ourselves in this situation where we now need a broad based approach to right all the wrongs inflicted upon the game by men and women we have blindly entrusted our game with. This is where we also need FIFA to sanitise the whole process and trust that FIFA doesn’t become complicit in siding with individuals instead of the football nation at large.
As we seek a way forward it is also of paramount importance if a precedence is set where all those who break national laws are arrested, prosecuted, and punished for violating the law of the country. This would set a good example to all those like-minded people who want to use the game for fame and personal aggrandizement. Allowing ourselves to get into another election with the current set up will be a perpetuation the challenges we have had since the days of Cuthbert Dube, though the behind-the-scenes dirty games at elections time date back to time immemorial.
Reconstituting the ZIFA Assembly will allow fresh critical minds to assume positions of leadership so that we depart from the yes man culture that has been prevailing all along.
All things being equal, football needs and can accommodate everyone of interest. The football ecosystem is such that ZIFA needs FIFA and the SRC, and all other stakeholders, the SRC needs ZIFA and FIFA to administer the game locally and internationally, while FIFA also need both ZIFA and SRC as Zimbabwe can’t be a member of FIFA without the two.
FIFA cannot run without member associations hence you find that there is no football association that has been expelled from FIFA for good but only suspended and readmitted in one way or the other.
Football should be the winner at the end of the day as it is now the biggest employer in the world and Zimbabwe can benefit economically if the game is run professionally.
** Phillip Mbofana is a former Zimbabwe national Under-23 football team coach who also had a stint with the now-defunct former Premiership sides Mhangura and Douglas Warriors. He is now coaching in Poland.
Online Reporter