It All Started With Leo Mugabe

By Perkins-Tino Bare

The current mess at 53 Livingstone is said to have started way back when Leo Mugabe was in power. The tenure saterted just like all others and ever since we have had the Henrietta Rushwaya who was literally selling our game to the Asians and the incumbent Cuthbert Dube who was oustred

after a hard fought battle.

Ever sincce then noone ever thinks of the collective lot which is the game itself. People are just being driven by what they can get out of Zifa be in financially or just a ticket to be a media representative at a tournament. Noone cares about the game anymore and as Zifa now looks for its next President we run through the accepted list of candidates one by one as we try to pick apart which man is best suited for the job. 

 

Trevor Carelse Juul

Former Zifa president himself, he has received a lot of ccriticism most of it stemming from the fact that he has been away from home for a long time which then questions if he possesses an understanding of our current game.

The man himself is well able for the top post at Zifa and he had to resubmit his papers after they were rejectd pending a suspension going back to the 80s. The suspension was overturned by the SRC stating that “What we know is that the whole Zifa board was suspended by the Sports Commission when Alwyn Pichanick was SRC chairman. The reason for the suspension was failure to remit levies. Trevor was interim chairman and the suspension was only up to the elections the following year, which ushered in the Leo Mugabe executive,” SRC spokesperson, Tirivavi Nheweyembwa said in an interview with a local daily.

What is however perculiar about Trevor Juul is that he lost earlier to Cuthbert Dube in the elections which were held before the latter was ousted. However he seems to be receiving the same cold treatment as the last time round it was more of the same with the man being denied entry into the Zifa offices. What they really fear of this man still remains to be seen as he the media itself is intent on setting himup as that deceptive, unrepentant prodigal son. 

 

Leslie Gwindi

Leslie Gwindi was also in the last race and he the two will be favourite to land the post. Unlike Juul, Gwindi was able to challenge the former persident Cuthbert Dube till the very end in the previous election in which he also lost. Aformer Dynamos secretary-general and current Harare City chairman, Gwindi shows a good consciousness to the fact that there is a dire need of reforms to be held out at Zifa. In one of his interview on local radio he was blunt enough to say it out exactly what Zifa needs.

A change of the system is all that is needed and that alone is a heck a lot of work to be done. It would also require a total overhaul of the personnel at Zifa who had been operating under the old system which got us into the mess we are in right now.

The outspoken Gwindi has already started taking swipes at his fellow candidates “There are rules and regulations that we must follow because we are the ones who set them. That’s where credibility starts. One of the cornerstones of this particular campaign is credibility, honesty and integrity,” he said in an interview with a local daily.We have conditions that we have set (in the constitution). For example, if a person hasn’t stayed in the country for five years or more, they don’t qualify and if a person hasn’t administered the game for five years, they don’t qualify as well added the defiant Gwindi.

“ Trevor does not qualify because he has been away for 21 years. Phil has not administered football at the level that is required and even the time frame, he does not fit” Thsi then goes on to question the integrity of thhe whole process as it seems that proceedings are no going on as per the book. One candidature that drives this point home is that of Phil Chiyangwa. 

Philip Chiyangwa

It all started as some big silly joke and we all laughed till we realised that they were dead serious. The only thing that got Philip Chiyngwa into the race and could as well sadly see hin going all the way is that the man in a politician. He therefore uses his power to wield support for himself even in the most unlikely insatnces like this one.

This then goes on to explain why, despite it being technically null and void it has received so much support from the media. It all goes on to lie in the greed of our fellow friends as well as they are looking at what they could get if they would have backed the `right guy` during th campaign.

One day I overheard the man doing an interview on Star Fm and what came out of it was the man boasting about his financial power. That can surely win him the post at Zifa but then it will certainly

be the ultimate death of our game. The man clearly shows that he has no clear knowledge of whta football adminstration is as he thinks money is all ther is to it. There was no talk of structures not even the current faulty one all about money money money and it goes in to show where the motive of the mman lies because there`s no way he`s going to invest a lot of money and not expect a return.

With the election set for the 5^th of December lets just hope that ourn councillors and everyone involved in the voting process will vote logically in the interests of the game.

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