THE MINISTER of Sports, Arts and Culture Andrew Langa says Zifa deserves the nation’s support following the elections that were conducted over the weekend that saw Cuthbert Dube being retained for a second term in office.
WELLINGTON TONI
Dube beat Trevor Carelse-Juul 44-14 in the runoff after Nigel Munyati and Leslie Gwindi had fallen by the wayside in the first round of the polls.
There has been a barrage of complaints against the re-election of Dube, which was endorsed by Fifa Southern and Eastern Region development officer Ashford Mamelodi on Monday, but Langa said he was satisfied everything was done above board.
“We hear there are complaints on the elections and there were even some complaints before the elections. I could not stop the election process and I am satisfied that everything, the whole process, was done above board.
“What we did as a ministry was to look at the constitution that goes from Zifa level right up to Fifa level and I personally did that and I am satisfied with the whole process.
“I want to congratulate the new board under the chairmanship of (Dr) Dube. They were not appointed, but elected in an election that was overseen by Mamelodi so we say congratulations to the board,” Langa told NewsDay Sport last night.
He added: “We need to give the new board the support they need. I am actually meeting them on Monday at 11am in my office with the SRC (Sports and Recreation Commission) where we will discuss, first, the servicing of the debt which is over $5 million, how they intend to proceed from here and the rebuilding of their image.”
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On Monday, newly elected vice-president Omega Sibanda, who beat Elkanah Dube 38-20, admitted that the image of the association was battered and what they needed was unity of purpose to forge ahead with the development of the sport in the country.
Langa said complaining in the media would not help matters. There was also an attempt to have the High Court stop the elections.
“There is no point in complaining to the newspapers. When there are issues, let them be brought to the parent ministry,” the minister said.
Langa has been supportive of Zifa’s efforts, especially with regard to Warriors issues having managed to get $88 000 for the national team ahead of their impressive participation in the African Nations Championships (Chan) in January in South Africa where they reached the last four.
The Warriors are also expected to share part of the $250 000 prize money from Chan for finish fourth in their third appearance in the competition. Langa further facilitated the release of $51 000 after the Warriors returned home.
The minister’s vote of confidence is a major boost to the Dube-led board and is seen as a way of avoiding any Fifa ban that would have come if government had interfered in the administration of the game.
Last week, SRC director-general Charles Nhemachena told Parliament that they had no power to stop Zifa from going ahead with the elections as doing so would have been deemed government interference in football which attracts a severe penalty from Fifa.
“We had asked them to review the (nomination) fee to that which was charged for the 2010 election ($500), but their justification was that they don’t have money and the candidates had to meet the election costs.
“We don’t have those powers really. The members had an option to appeal the fees as accorded by the Zifa constitution which they did not exercise. We couldn’t do anything because we feared that Fifa would intervene and see this as government interference, of which we will be banned from taking part in international events,” Nhemachena told Parliament.
Zifa has to move with speed to ensure their house is in order ahead of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which will start in May.
