EVER heard of what transpires when some hero, national, provincial or liberation or even of a sport discipline passes on to the other world and people gather at the funeral wake and burial!
Once the small bit of serious mourning has been done and the speeches start one is likely to hear a lot of truths – not about the hero, but more about how the hero has been failed by one or the other person.
That is precisely, me thinks unfortunately, happened in Nkulumane and also at West Park Cemetery last week following the passing on of one of troubled Zimbabwe Saints’ gallant warriors, Max “Shaluza” Tshuma. Once we were done with the bit of solemnity that greeted the arrival of his body at his house we all soon descended into an inquest of what was happening at Saints, a club that Tshuma had played for so brilliantly alongside a lot of other names, some of them gone into the other world others still with us on this planet.
On several occassions whenever we bumped into each other Tshuma would always say, “Ko mashaya zano rokumutsidzira team here bambo?” (Have you failed to find a way of reviving Saints?) Unfortunately Tshuma did not live to see his big wish fulfilled, but he certainly must have spoken to a lot other people about the pain he suffered to see his beloved Saints fading into oblivion, at least judging by the events that suddenly started at Tshuma’s funeral wake and burial.
Starting Sunday when his body was taken to lie in state at his home to Monday when he was laid to rest at West Park, every one who was present said one thing in unison – it would be a great tribute to Tshuma if those that claim to have the blue blood of Saints in their veins worked day and night to revive the dead giant.
The debate culminated in an agreement that there be a series of meetings to look into bringing Saints back to life. The second of such meetings took place at the Zimbabwe Saints clubhouse, now in a very sorry state and delapidated from more than a decade of neglect, this last Sunday and the third meeting is scheduled to take place this coming Sunday.
The series of meetings is very welcome and important, even if only for the meer fact that the Saints people – whoever these maybe – have at least found each other again and are able to dialogue.
But the dialogue must be purposeful and focused. The Saints people must also not allow the dialogue to degenerate into a perulile discussion about individuals rather than ideas.
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In this regard, it ought to be appreciated that whoever sacrifices his or her time to attend these meetings surely has Saints at heart, first and foremost, and is pained by its demise.
Whatever suggestion such a person makes must be debated objectively without outrightly rejecting it simply because it has come from someone perceived, most likely wrongly, to be an enemy of Saints or to have failed the club in the past.
The culture of personalising issues has been very pervasive in Saints and is largely to blame for the current comatose state the club finds itself in. Surely it is time the Saints people realised this pull-him-down culture has not benefited their cause and has in fact, killed the brand they all like to be associated with!
Definitely a culture change away from this personal assault syndrome is imperative if there is going to be any positive outcome from the current series of meetings and if people seriously want to bring Saints back – there needs to be a unity of purpose and a meeting of the minds.
The past is gone and will never come back and no amount of time wasted on debating it will assist in finding a solution to Saints’ woes. However, the past must all the same be used, appropriately and briefly, to help shape the future in so far as agreeing what mistakes were made in the past and avoiding these as well as building on whatever positives were achieved in the past.
One of the most contentious issues that has divided the Saints people has been the issue of “privatising” the club. There is already in existence two registered companies, Zimbabwe Saints (Pvt) Ltd and Nedcare Investments trading as Zimbabwe Saints, and some people are shareholders in both companies. There is, however, a large section of the Saints family that does not ever want to hear of companies and argues the club must remain a community entity – whoever constitutes this community. This debate must be exhausted and concluded, heated as it might be, and people must come out of it with an agreed way forward.
Whatever is agreed, sight must not be lost of the fact that what has largely brought Saints to its knees is lack of finance and in debating options going forward the issues of sustainability and viability of any strategies arrived at must be uppermost. Another key issue that needs to be tackled and settled now is incessant squabbling and division in the club.
If any strategy is going to be viable and sustainable the need for unity of purpose and closing of ranks within Saints cannot be overemphasised. In fact, if any outsider, corporate or individual, wants to assist Saints they surely would like to give support to a stable and united outfit rather than to one that is always bedridden by in-fighting.
It must also be appreciated by all involved in Saints that the aim of these meetings is NOT to specifically remove any individual from power, but a genuine desire to revive Saints which anybody claiming to be a genuine Saints person who has only the interests of the club at heart will not stand against nor frustrate.
So, let all those that claim to be genuine Saints people, people whose veins ooze only blue blood when cut, help Max Tshuma rest in peace by rescusitating Saints!
