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Jamanda speaks out on supporters’ apology

Sport
SIMEON Jamanda, the Zifa supporters’ liaison officer, says the apology issued to Zifa president Cuthbert Dube was personal.

SIMEON Jamanda, the Zifa supporters’ liaison officer, says the apology issued to Zifa president Cuthbert Dube by members of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association (ZNSSA) was personal.

Report by Sports Reporter

The association met Dube on Thursday and apologised following remarks they made at Parliament alleging that he had bought his way into office.

ZNSSA even produced receipts to back their claims-the authenticity of those receipts are now in question. But Jamanda, who was appointed by the Zifa Board last month, said anything done outside the statutes of football as recommended by world football governing body Fifa, will not be recognised and called upon the various supporters organisations to form one body.

The other organisation is the Friends of the Warriors, while clubs, mostly in the Premier Soccer League have their own supporters’unions.

“I was appointed to that position by the Zifa board on the recommendation of Fifa. I am the registering authority and any organisation, whether its ZNSSA or Warriors Friends, should do their activities through this office.

“We are in the process of formulating a national supporters’ register that will involve everyone and all the clubs. We want to go Highlanders, Dynamos, Hwange, FC Platinum and all the other clubs and ensure that this has a national outlook.

“What happened yesterday (Thursday), was a personal apology emanating from the statements that ZNSSA made in Parliament and we do not recognise that.

“The reality of the issue is that now that they have seen that football cleansing is going ahead everybody wants to play a clean game.”

He then took a swipe at some of the supporters’ organisations. “Some of them have no offices, no register and people do not even know where to get membership from because people do things just to please one another.  So we need to create structures that enable everybody’s participation in the national supporters’ organisations.”

Yesterday, ZNSSA secretary-general Wellington Mpandare said: “We do not have any problem at all in working with anybody. We do not want to be labelled a third force or to be said we are associated with people who were involved in Asiagate; we do not want that at all.

“We are only interested in supporting the national cause. We are working on a new constitution.”