Another Commission of Enquiry has been appointed to try to resolve the never-ending problems in our game of football.
Michael Kariati
What we don’t want to see is another waste of time and resources as what happened with the Justice Paddington Garwe Commission whose recommendations are still to be implemented up to now —18 years after the exercise was carried out.
The Justice Garwe Commission was appointed by the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) and questions are already being raised on whether anything will come out of the Obediah Moyo-led Commission, a product of the same SRC.
Moyo can go ahead claiming that his committee is independent, but the truth is that the final decision lies with the SRC. Whatever the Commission of Enquiry is going to come up with will end up in the hands of the supreme sports body who will have the final say. This is also evident in the fact that the SRC’s deputy director general Joseph Muchechetere is also part of the Commission of Enquiry which is taking contributions from the public and the football family as a whole.
With what has happened in the past, and what has been allowed to pass recently, there is less and less faith that the SRC are the right people to resolve the crisis in football. A number of sport analysts have described the SRC as a toothless bulldog.
Surely, that is what they seem to be as they have failed to deal decisively with the never-ending problems in the most followed sport in the country.
With the crisis that continues to dog the Warriors — the Valinhos debacle, the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations bid, the Fifa funds, Walter Magaya’s revelations, and lately, the Kalisto Pasuwa mess — one would have expected the SRC to act swiftly instead of appointing a Commission of Enquiry.
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There is more. The Zifa board itself is in shambles. Vice-president Omega Sibanda, board member finance Benard Gwarada, and Zimbabwe Women’s Football chairperson Miriam Sibanda are on suspension. Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri rarely attends the caucus.
So who then is making decisions?
The SRC has been in existence for close to 28 years and the football situation provided them with the opportunity to prove that they are not a toothless bulldog after all.
But instead of being proactive, they have turned reactionary, and appointed a Commission of Enquiry.
What is there to enquire when it is crystal clear for everyone to see that our football is in limbo?
There is no doubt that the solution to the crisis lies in disbanding the whole Zimbabwe Football Association and starting afresh.
The overhaul should not be restricted to 53 Livingstone Avenue alone, but also down to the Zifa Council which has always been dogged by allegations of taking money in exchange for votes. The SRC, however, contends that they need evidence in order for them to act. So in the meantime, let us give them the benefit of the doubt in the hope that by the end of this latest Commission of Enquiry, they will flex their muscles.
That the whole country is contributing to this exercise should be a warning to them. The public will be waiting for the results after having left their vending positions and taken time off from work to try to help the game of football.
The SRC should also be reminded that they cannot continue wasting the taxpayer’s money on these Commissions whose findings are later on thrown into the dustbin.
Chairman Moyo has made an undertaking that he will see to it that the people’s views and recommendations are taken seriously and that appropriate action will be taken after the exercise.
We know Moyo to be a principled man. He should stick to his guns and see to it that the people’s wishes are respected. The whole nation is waiting.
The trip to Comoros demonstrated the confusion at Number 53 Livingstone.
How could whoever is calling the guns at Zifa let the entire office travel to Comoros, for what purpose? All Zifa employees, with the exception of the few, were in the plane to Comoros. At whose expense, when media houses that were there to give coverage were ordered to part with $450 even after the ministry had intervened? It was so embarrassing. This must come to an abrupt end. These are the reasons why people shun putting their money into Zifa’s hands.
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