MINISTER of Sports, Arts and Culture Andrew Langa says if any action is to be taken on Zifa following Zimbabwe’s ban from the 2018 Fifa World Cup preliminaries, then it should come from the association’s assembly.
BY WELLINGTON TONI
Langa was speaking after Zifa were expelled from the 2018 world football extravaganza for failing to honour a debt to former coach Jose Claudinei Georgini, or Valinhos, who was recruited in 2008 by the Wellington Nyatanga-led board, but lasted just 11 months after a disastrous 2010 World Cup and Afcon campaign.
The current Zifa board, chaired by Cuthbert Dube, inherited the debt, but failed to pay, leading to Valinhos asking Fifa to bar Zifa from the 2018 World Cup.
This means that Zifa will forfeit the $300 000 that they were due to receive from Fifa to cover the 2018 qualifiers.
In a statement yesterday, Langa said: “The Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture yesterday (Thursday) learnt with great disappointment of the expulsion of the country, represented by Zifa, from participating in the 2018 Fifa World Cup Qualifiers. That this came as a result of an apparent bungling by Zifa makes it more intolerable and repugnant. Neither the Sports and Recreation Commission nor the Ministry were made aware of the disciplinary action taken against Zifa, the result of which was the imposition of a fine and the granting of the grace period to pay the creditor (Mr Jose Claudinei Georgini) his dues. Zifa must accept that it has failed the nation in this regard. The nation continues to endure the effects of administrative inefficiencies without any resolute action being taken to correct the situation.
“While all criticism has mainly been targeted at the Zifa Board, my Ministry notes that control of the Board vests in the Zifa Assembly. The latter, therefore, are equally if not more culpable for the goings-on in Zifa. The Zifa Assembly are the ones who voted the Zifa Board into office and it is them who can exercise the prerogative to withdraw their mandate, or to take any other concrete action that demonstrates their resolve to ensure that there is professionalism in the administration of our football.
“My Ministry would like to reiterate its position that removal of persons from office must, as a general rule, be done in terms of the statutes that govern those institutions. My Ministry would like to challenge the Zifa Assembly to reflect on the perennial flaws that characterize their administration of football in the country, as well as on the mood of the nation with regard to the direction they are taking football and take bold and urgent steps to correct the issues.
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“My Ministry has also set up a Commission of Enquiry into the state of Football in Zimbabwe and this Commission is due to commence from the beginning of April and will run for two months.
Specific to the latest decision by Fifa, my Ministry notes that, if the suspension is going to hold, it would be a suspension from participating in a particular tournament rather than a blanket suspension from all football activities. It means that the Warriors can still participate in other tournaments such as the Afcon, Chan and Cosafa while all our junior and women’s teams would still be eligible to participate in,among others, all Fifa, Caf and Cosafa tournaments. Also, Fifa’s decision does not affect our capacity to effect player transfers for players who might get opportunities to ply their trade outside Zimbabwe.
My Ministry has instructed the SRC to direct Zifa to submit a report on the matter in question. We would like to know how we came to the current situation and what action Zifa has taken or intends to take to salvage the situation.
We are also exploring the possibility of having the suspension reversed. It is also our hope that should the Fifa visit materialize, it would be another opportunity to influence decisions in Zimbabwe’s favour.
“Finally, my Ministry would like to assure the general soccer loving public and the entire nation at large, that we will do our best to ensure that the situation in our football is brought to normalcy. It may not happen overnight, but it will certainly happen. As Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, I have summoned Zifa and SRC to a meeting next week to deliberate on these and other issues in an effort to try and resolve these burning issues concerning our beautiful game of football.”
