Highlanders to meet on CEO

Sport
HIGHLANDERS Football Club will soon be meeting to engage a chief executive officer (CEO) with former Zifa vice-president and veteran football administrator Ndumiso Gumede

HIGHLANDERS Football Club will soon be meeting to engage a chief executive officer (CEO) with former Zifa vice-president and veteran football administrator Ndumiso Gumede, who had been touted for the job saying he is happy with his retirement in football, unless an irresistible offer is tabled for him.

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Gumede, a former Highlanders chairman had been tipped for the Bosso top job among other names that include former secretary Nhlanhla Dube and Zifa education officer Brian Moyo.

However, the veteran football administrator yesterday said he was happy with retirement from football.

“If they can create a job suitable for a big man like me, yes I can take it. I am not a small man and obviously I cannot be seen to be washing kits. Otherwise all that is just speculation. I am happy with my retirement unless the offer is irresistible then I could take it. They (Highlanders) have not approached me,” he said.

Gumede was quoted on SuperSport saying: “Maybe I can only do that in an advisory capacity because I think I have served enough in football. It is time for me to rest.”

Sources said Highlanders were due to meet yesterday on the issue of the CEO, but club chairman Peter Dube said they would meet soon and a number of names have been thrown around.

“It is something that has been put on the table on several gatherings to have someone who will be the face of the club. It is the right way to go with club licensing and we don’t want to be left out. There are many names and it’s something that we will be discussing in the shortest possible time. We could have met today (yesterday), but we can’t constitute a quorum,” he said.

Board chairman Mgcini Nkolomi told the club’s annual general meeting (AGM) in January that Highlanders would engage a general manager to run the day to day activities of the club.

He, however, said the club was hindered by financial constraints in that direction.

“Guided mainly by the aims and objectives of its strategic workshop of November 2010, the board has maintained a steady acceleration on this chosen course. As early as March or April 2013, the board sought answers to questions as to: What has changed so far? What have we achieved so far? What did we fail to achieve and what is our implementation plan? These questions emerged from yet another strategic review of 2013 out of which the issue of engagement of a full-time general manager/chief executive officer came out loud and clear. Unfortunately, funding (or lack of it) has remained as the major limiting factor against the achievement of this goal. Certainly, it is acknowledged that the running of an institution of our nature cannot be left in the hands of part-time personnel as is currently the case both at board and executive level. Challenges have been encountered and will continue to be faced particularly in respect of timelines, but that is not to say that the chosen course should be abandoned,” Nkolomi told the AGM.