During the past week, a lot has been said about Zifa president Cuthbert Dube having failed to stir the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) ship as Zimbabwean football continues to sink into murky waters.
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This has been said so loud, to the extent that most stakeholders, including Sport, Arts and Culture deputy minister Tabhetha Kanengoni-Malinga joined the bandwagon demanding Dube’s ouster.
At one point, when athletics in this country was in a similar position, the then president of the Amateur Athletics Association of Zimbabwe Pat Judson said: “As long as there are no financial resources, you will just be hitting your talents against the wall.”
This is the situation that our football finds itself in. The truth is that the problem with our football is not Zifa, but the fact that there is no money in Zimbabwe football to ensure that national teams are adequately funded to guarantee success.
Even if Dube were to go today, and somebody else came in as long as there is no financial injection into Zifa’s coffers — from government and the corporate world — Zimbabwe’s football will remain where it is today, or might even get worse.
True, Dube has his faults, but the man went out of his way to sacrifice his own financial resources in a bid to help Zifa and the national teams when the government was there sitting and doing nothing.
Zifa has a debt of $7 million which continues to balloon because our national teams are getting into camp every day with no money coming either from the government or the corporate world. Zifa are instead trying to use the meagre gate takings to fund the national team. That should not be the case. Those gate takings should be going towards the salaries of the secretariat.
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In other countries, national teams do not rely on funding solely from the football federation. They have different sponsors that cater for accommodation, food, airfares, kit, you name it.
Although in the past Zifa had one or two such sponsors, the economy today no longer allows companies to actively participate in football in the same way they used to.
Can we blame Zifa for Dynamos’ withdrawal from Pan African football? NO!
The few enthusiastic companies we still have in football only want to be associated with Zifa when the national team is on the verge of qualifying for a major tournament. When this is not happening, they disappear.
Half a million dollars was pledged, a plane was chartered to Angola, and the players were promised housing stands when Zimbabwe was on the verge of qualifying for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals.
What happened when the Warriors failed to qualify? All those people that made promises disappeared without trace.
Even the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, through chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke, had offered players accommodation at the plush Harare International Conference Centre. Had we built on that and maintained that support for the national football controlling body, the Warriors would have been at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in the Equatorial Guinea right now, instead of playing blame games. I have been following the grandstanding from the Ministry of Sport and one question I have asked over and over again is: What has the ministry or the government itself done FINANCIALLY to try to help Zifa, and the national teams ? NOTHING! Can the deputy minister stand up and tell us what the ministry has done for Zifa since she came into office. I will be more than happy to hear from her. Zifa owe former national coaches Sunday Chidzambwa, Norman Mapeza and Ian Gorowa a lot of money in contractual obligations. In other successful African football nations, national coaches are the responsibility of the government. That is the reason why they have an input on who is appointed.
Instead of trying to look good in front of angry Zimbabweans and shifting the blame on to Dube, I would be happy to see the Ministry of Sport convince treasury to part with — for a start — only $10 million for national sporting associations, with part of it going to Zifa.
We might point fingers at one another, but the truth is that the crisis in our sport and particularly our football is symptomatic of the state of the nation. There is no money.
Give Zifa the money and then throw them out if they fail. For view, comments, and suggestions, email [email protected] or WhatsApp 0773266779.
