adminSports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association have lobbied Parliament to call for a public hearing amid claims that the current Zifa elections are being tarnished by a massive votes-for-cash scandal.ZNSSA spokesman Paddington Japajapa said they have received complaints from provinces and regions where cases of votes being traded for cash were made and they wanted Parliament to provide a forum for these people to back their claims.
Japajapa said losing candidates in provinces and regions have raised these complaints with Zifa officials but, expectedly, their cries for fairness have fallen on deaf ears.
Mandla Moyo, who lost the Zifa Southern Region chairmanship race to Mussa Mandaza, has already written to the Sports Commission claiming that the polls were a massive fraudulent act. Similar complaints have also emerged from the provinces.
Japajapa said the Sports Commission were not acting, despite mounting evidence that the entire process was flawed and votes were being traded, as if they were stocks on the stock exchange, and ZNSSA have been left with no option but to approach parliament.
“Having discovered that the Sports Commission is just a toothless bulldog we have decided to approach Parliament, through the Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma, and we have copied the correspondence to the chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Temba Mliswa,” said Japajapa.
“This committee is made up of some people who have a very rich background in sport like Tapiwa Matangaidze and former Dynamos secretary-general Ray Kazembe and they should understand these things quite well.
“We have requested them to conduct a public hearing about problems besetting the Zimbabwe Football Association and soccer administration in general.
“There are so many allegations of vote buying in all the provinces and regions, councillors being booked into hotels and selling their votes and we want all these issues discussed because we have people who have substantial evidence.
“We indicated to Parliament that we want this hearing held within the next two weeks and we expect Parliament to co-operate with us because Parliament was established to serve the needs and interests of the people of Zimbabwe.
“Failure to attend this hearing by the Zifa board and SRC we will request the committee to invoke the parliamentary standing rules and orders where summons will be issued to the Zifa board and SRC.”
Japajapa yesterday called for leadership renewal within Zifa.
He also said the supporters’ body has lost faith in the Sports Commission which he said has failed football in Zimbabwe.
“We have written a letter to the Sports Commission through their director-general Charles Nhemachena and he has shown us the highest level of failure, to play a role of the SRC in Zimbabwe, in that the Sports Commission is now acting like a subordinate of Zifa,” said Japajapa.
“We are not saying they should interfere in the running of the game but as the supreme sports body they are supposed to call Zifa for a hearing and when they see that things are not done properly according to the Sports Act they should whip them into line.
“There have been several complaints from around the country about how things are being conducted at Zifa but unfortunately the SRC just remain passive and are not invoking the power invested in them by the Sports Act. They have failed in all aspects to tackle all problems affecting the game at the moment. We have seen their ineffectiveness and we are saying we can never expect to get anything meaningful from them as the supreme body responsible for all sports associations.
“SRC has failed dismally and we are saying nothing good can come from them.”
Online Reporter