Basketball Union of Zimbabwe to face suspension from SRC over split

Sport
BY ALBERT MARUFU THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has threatened to suspend the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe executive if it fails to sort the chaos rocking its affiliate, the Harare Basketball Association (HBA).

 

HBA split into two committees last year with veteran coach and administrator Roderick Takawira leading the splinter faction, leaving Gilchrist Mageza in charge of the committee that is constitutionally recognised by BUZ.

The Takawira committee, known as HBA-T in basketball circles, is running while the Mageza-led committee (HBA-M) is still to take off.

The Takawira-led committee withdrew from HBA last year in protest over allegations of too much interference from BUZ, lack of good governance and alleged disregard for the constitution.

SRC Director General Charles Nhemachena said the chaos at HBA must come to an end as it was affecting the players. He said this would ultimately impact on the national teams’ performances.

“I am not happy with what is happening in basketball,” said Nhemachena.

“How can people fail to agree on such simple matters? This shows the kind of administrators that we have in the country. We do not have good sport administrators and you can count a few who deserve to be called sport administrators,” he said

“There is so much talent in the country, but it is being wasted by erratic administrators who put their interests first ahead of the game.”

Nhemachena said the HBA dispute had gone on for a long time, noting it was time to solve it in the interest of players.

“We are empowered to either suspend the entire executive or administrators in their individual capacities. I think such an action would bring the required results in the sport,” he said.

The SRC boss also said they were waiting for the report from the association on the performances of the team in the qualifiers for both the All Africa Games and Fiba Africa Nations Championships that was held in South Africa last week.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in basketball and we will be looking at the reports on the teams’ performances in the regional qualifiers. We will see if the teams’ performance was not affected by the current problems. That is when we are going to take action,” he said.

When contacted for comment, BUZ leader Addison Chiware promised to call back, but never did.