WARRIORS legends Sunday Chidzambwa and Moses Chunga could find themselves in the midst of a conflict of interest row following their appointment as national team coaches when they were still members of the Zifa high performance committee, Standardsport has established.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Chidzambwa, who is currently employed by premiership side ZPC Kariba, was named as the Warriors coach specifically for the Cosafa tournament which begins next Sunday up to July 9 in the North West Province in South Africa while Chunga takes charge of the national U17 side.
The appointments, however, come when the duo are still members of the Zifa high perfomance committee, whose role is to oversee the same national teams that they have been assigned to coach.
The Zifa high perfomance committee strongly recommended the firing of former Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa after the national team’s disappointing Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Gabon.
Sources who spoke to Standardsport said Zifa did not follow due process before making the appointments.
“Zifa should have dissolved the old committee first to enable the old members to be eligible for such appointments by the new committee,” the source said.
“The board should have met to appoint a new committee which was going to make recommendations to the board to consider the list of appointees that they would come up with. Basically, the new committee should have been made public well before the appointments were made.”
Another source said Zifa’s Chidzambwa and Chunga appointments were questionable as they were part of the committee that was supposed to have recommended the coaches.
“The appointments are a charade. What it basically means is that the high perfomance committee members have appointed themselves which is the height of bad governance by Zifa,” said the source.
Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, however, defended the appointments, arguing that due process was followed. He could not confirm when Chunga and Chidzambwa stepped down from their initial roles.
“Do we have to announce to the public that they have left [the Zifa high perfomance committee] and are awaiting appointment? Those things happen behind the scenes and you can’t make everything public. Besides, being in the high perfomance committee does not mean that they can’t take charge of their own national team. Remember if the coach resigns or we fire him the technical director takes over, that’s the norm, so there’s nothing amiss,” Sibanda said.