The Chronicle
19 October 2011
Financially troubled Zifa are eagerly awaiting a football stakeholders indaba that is being convened by the Government which they believe could be the first major step towards getting the local fraternity to appreciate the challenges being faced by the domestic game.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart will convene the meeting early next month, which will bring together all the stakeholders with a view to finding lasting solutions to all the problems afflicting local football.
Coltart has acknowledged the need for Government to step in and support Zifa in their revival mission with the minister also noting that the local game was struggling from lack of sustainable funding.
There has been a slow pace of financial injection from the corporate world for football, which has left a number of individuals to make personal sacrifices to keep local clubs going.
A number of clubs have either folded or are battling to survive in a tough operating environment that has left them literally operating on a hand-to-mouth basis and even left some of the club directors with huge debts.
“The focus of the indaba is to look at financing of football, seeing what we can do as a Government and the private sector to ensure that football is on a viable and sound footing,†Coltart said
The minister also reckoned that “football needs to be depoliticised so that we leave it to people who are better placed to run the game and have the passion to run the sport.â€
Coltart also said he discussed with Zifa and the Sport and Recreation Commission that the game needs a fresh impetus.
But as the date for the indaba draws nearer, Zifa have embraced the Government’s initiative with the association’s president Cuthbert Dube revealing that they were eagerly awaiting an opportunity to come face to face with the relevant stakeholders in the game.
“We have agreed as Zifa to be part of the minister’s indaba and we would like to thank Minister Coltart for his initiative because we believe this presents a platform where the critical issues can be discussed.
“All the teams in the country just need to be assisted, it is not just about the Warriors, I think it is at that indaba the nation will appreciate the challenges that Zifa has been facing,†Dube said.
The Zifa president has since assuming office in March last year been preaching a gospel of transparency within the game’s structures.
Dube believes that for local football to earn the respect of the Government, the corporate world, the media, players, coaches and the fans, its administrative wing would have to show transparency in the manner that the game is run at all levels.
Dube also noted that part of Zifa’s bid to improve their administration of the game was being pegged back by a flawed constitution what has a lot of conflicting clauses which could literally make the game ungovernable.
“We have since asked the Zifa board to propose the names of a few members who can make up the constitutional review committee that should work on amending our constitution.
“The constitution should be the Bible and some of the problems we are having in Zifa are a result of a skewed constitution and that committee will work round the clock to amend the constitution so that we do away with the flaws in it.
“There will be no Zifa board member on that committee because we want it to be a transparent process,†Dube said.
Dube also said his board had taken a keen interest in the final countdown to the championship races in the Premier Soccer League and the Division One leagues.