Zifa, Government meet

The Herald

By Petros Kausiyo

30 August 2012

Government yesterday came face-to-face with the magnitude of financial challenges being faced by cash-strapped Zifa and acknowledged that the soccer mother body’s operations were being hamstrung by inadequate funding from the corporate world and the State. The Government, citing budgetary constraints, could however, not immediately commit themselves to bailing out Zifa with the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture instead opting for an all stakeholders indaba to be staged before the end of September which would to try and find solutions.

Coltart led a three-member government delegation that included his deputy Lazarus Dokora and an official in the ministry Ellen Shiriyedenga at a meeting with the Sport and Recreation Commission and the Zifa leadership.
Sports Commission director-general Charles Nhemachena and a member of the commission’s board Edward Siwela represented the supreme sports body while

Zifa president Cuthbert Dube led the association’s team which included Zifa vice-president  Ndumiso Gumede, chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and Northern Region chairman Saidi Sangula.

Zifa also got an opportunity to brief the government on the progress they have made in the seemingly endless Asiagate probe after which Nhemachena emerged to reveal that the state had implored on the association to “wind up the probe” and switch their focus to other facets of the game.

Nhemachena who last week led a Zimbabwe delegation to a Fifa/Cosafa and Interpol workshop on match-fixing and regional integrity said yesterday’s indaba had been arranged to affords Zifa a chance to present to Coltart the challenges which the soccer mother body has been facing.

Zifa president Dube had had to single-handedly fund Zifa’s operations including paying for the salaries of the national coach and the staff football body’s using personal resources, a scenario, which even the respected Harare business executive has admitted is untenable.

Dube has to date spent over $1, 2 million to bail out Zifa from mounting litigation from their creditors, fund the Warriors commitments and even the association’s day to day activities.

Yesterday Dube who has also decried the fact that they assumed a bankrupt association, was flanked by some of his colleagues in the Zifa leadership when he got an opportunity to appraise Coltart of the magnitude of the problems they are faced with.

Nhemachena said the indaba had also been arranged in order to give Zifa a chance to also discuss how to deal with a directive from Coltart from them to rotate national teams matches to centres outside of Harare.

The Sports Commission director-general also said the meeting had noted that the Zifa board had spent the last two and half years focussing more on Asiagate and that the association needed to shift attention to other demands in the game by successfully concluding the match-fixing scam.

“The meeting was organised to give Zifa an opportunity to brief the Ministry on the state of football in general and, in particular, to:

• Find ways to resolve Zifa’s funding challenges
• Review progress in resolving the Asiagate issue
• Discuss the modalities for implementing the Minister’s directive on the rotation of venues in hosting international events.”

Nhemachena then gave a summary of the resolutions that emerged from the indaba.

“The meeting noted the serious financial challenges that Zifa was facing resulting in the association being unable to fund its programmes and constantly seeking Government financial support.  It was further noted that Government was also facing serious budgetary constraints to the extent that only limited support could be availed to sport.

“Except for a few cases, corporate sector financial support was not forthcoming making it necessary to engage the sector in order to address the concerns that precluded them from supporting football.

“The meeting concurred with the Minister’s earlier call on the need to hold an Indaba with key stakeholders to find ways of extricating football from its current situation so as to provide opportunities for Zimbabweans, especially the youth, to benefit from the game. Among the stakeholders expected to participate at this indaba were relevant Government Ministries including but not limited to the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture and Ministry of Finance; major corporate sponsors/potential sponsors; civic leaders such as Mayors, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Sport and Recreation Commission and other interested parastatals,” Nhemachena said.

The indaba, Nhemachena also said would table pertinent issues related to the governance of football in the country.

“Issues to be discussed would include football governance issues, financing of national teams and football development; and any other pertinent issues of interest to football stakeholders.

“The Hon. Lazarus Dokora would preside over the preparations of the one-day Indaba which is expected to be held as soon as possible before the end of September 2012.

“Zifa also briefed the meeting on progress made in resolving the Asiagate issue. While noting concern over the delayed completion of the investigations, the meeting was pleased that the Zifa Ethics Committee was expected to finalise the matter in the next week or two.
“The meeting observed that the matter had consumed the energies of the new Zifa board over the past 2½ years and concurred that there was need for this matter to be concluded to allow the board to focus on developmental issues of the game.”

Nhemachena said while it was imperative that the national teams games be rotated, the move had to take into account the Fifa and Caf stadium requirements which some of the venues outside the capital do not meet.

“The meeting appreciated the need to rotate venues for international matches rather than restrict activities to Harare only. This approach would give the game a national character and facilitate balanced development of football while acting as a catalyst for national cohesion, among other benefits.

“It was acknowledged that rotation could not be rigidly implemented as there was need to consider issues such as Fifa/Caf tournament regulations, stadia capacity and security among other issues, but the onus would be on Zifa to provide justification for deviation from the rotation arrangement.

“Related to the above was the need to ensure that Zimbabwe builds capacity (in terms of facilities) to host the African Cup of Nations.  It was regrettable that after failing to host the 2000 AFCON, stadia development projects were abandoned.

“To this end, Zifa would be expected to provide information on the work that needed to be carried out on the major stadia in Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru or Kwekwe to meet Fifa requirements.

“The Minister concluded by appreciating the value of the meeting as a positive and significant step towards resolving Zifa’s challenges for national benefit,” Nhemachena said.