Solutions to football problems lie with Zifa

THE Sport ministry has been gunning to clean up the mess at Zifa, remove Cuthbert Dube from office and put a bit of sanity back into the football fratenity.

THE Sport ministry has been gunning to clean up the mess at Zifa, remove Cuthbert Dube from office and put a bit of sanity back into the football fratenity.

We all know that Fifa would likely come hard on Zimbabwean football, suspend Zifa from Fifa affiliation and Zifa would likely lose all developmental fees from Fifa. That would spell doom on local football development.

Dube seems to have support from Zifa councillors who voted him into office and the latter can pass a vote of no confidence on him.

Councillors seem hesitant to have Dube go if the government insists on removing him. They are well aware of the impact the move might have on Zimbabwean football.

Reliable sources have it that Dube’s image before the Sports deputy minister is not a good one. The said deputy is suspected to belong to the ruling Zanu PF faction while the minister has been identified with the ousted and former Zimbabwean vice-president.

Zifa has never been bailed out by the government. Dube, though mired in controversy, has always bailed Zifa out from his pocket.

The government wants to have Zifa banned by Fifa because it knows fully well that it has nothing to lose.

Governmental approach to most social services that make citizens happy has been to destroy instead of building.

While the government seeks the ouster of Dube, no viable alternative has been laid on the table for football followers to consider.

Both female and male teams have failed to qualify for Africa’s top campaigns as a result of many reasons.

We see lack of government interest to grow local football adding to the rot.

Should Zanu PF factionalism stick its tentacles into football, we are in for a much higher jump.

The Zifa board is due to meet on Friday with the annual general meeting set for Saturday.

The Dube ouster is likely to feature prominently.

For the Zifa council to retain any credibility and to try and move football forward, it has to stick to its guns and solve its own problems without outside interference.

Dube has a lot of skeletons in his cupboard, but as long as they have nothing to do with football, Zanu PF can tackle him at appropriate venues.

Football lovers want sanity back in football where they can watch the team play in any African country for top honours.

Missing out on the just-ended African Nations Cup and watching such marvellous penalty-kicks taken by West African countries will for ever be painful to the ever missing Zimbabwe.