SPORTS and Recreation Commission (SRC) director-general Charles Nhemachena believes Zifa needs assistance from all stakeholders if Zimbabwean football is to get out of the woods.
TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Caf B equivalence coaching course attended by former national team legends at Zifa Village yesterday, Nhemachena said if Zifa did not get assistance, everyone would be a loser.
“I believe Zifa needs assistance from all stakeholders and without such assistance everyone will be a loser,” Nhemachena said, adding that the SRC had briefed the Sport, Arts and Culture minister Andrew Langa on their meeting with Zifa and were expecting him to give a position on the way forward.
“I hope that following the meeting we had with the Zifa leaders, they will be able to unite and get focused on achieving the objective of football development.
“We met with the minister and we briefed him on the outcome of our meeting with the Zifa leaders. We are expecting him to give a position on the way forward in due course.”
The meeting was held at the behest of the minister who tasked the supreme sports body to try and find a lasting solution to the problems haunting the national game, including the infighting within the Zifa board and concerns raised by various football stakeholders.
However, the former Black Rhinos secretary said the prevailing situation at Zifa was the same that was obtaining during his one-year tenure as Zifa board member finance and acting chief executive in 2002.
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Nhemachena had been asked to be acting Zifa chief executive then after taking over from Cliff Macllwaine.
He, however, declined to take up a new appointment as Zifa director of finance and administration, thus ending his one-year stint as a Zifa employee.
“This is the same situation that was obtaining at Zifa during my time,” he said.
“There was lack of unity. They were more focused on individuals rather than making Zifa a coherent unit.”
However, the world soccer governing body Fifa, which prohibits government interference in the running of football, has warned that government interference would invite a ban from all competitions.
But Langa, mindful of the consequences of dissolving the Zifa board, has hinted they would not rush to make such a decision before exhausting all possible channels to resolve the problems.
Notable among the attendants yesterday was former Warriors midfielder Moses Chunga, Cosmas Zulu, Joey Antipas, Stanford “Stix” Mtizwa, Stanley Chirambadare, Droment Chirova, Arthur Tutani, David George, Charles “Raw Meat” Sibanda, Amini Soma-Phiri and Phillip Mbofana, among others.
The course is being facilitated by CAF instructors Taurai Mangwiro and Steve Coetzee from South Africa and Zifa technical director Maxwell Jongwe.
The course ends on Friday.
