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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

AMHVoices:Chiyangwa ought to learn from Dube’s failures

AMH Voices
I want to congratulate Philip Chiyangwa for being elected Zifa president.

I want to congratulate Philip Chiyangwa for being elected Zifa president.

CHRIS CHISANGO, OUR READER

I presume this letter finds you in high spirits as you still celebrate your much-sweated-for victory that even took you airborne, probably to convince angels and other citizens of the divine world that you possess the power, zest and impact to lead Zimbabwean soccer and, most importantly, to heights we have never seen before, especially settling the much-talked-about $6,8 million debt within six months of your tenure as you publicly declared.

phillip-chiyangwa

Your coming-in on board the troubled Zifa ship will obviously stabilise the ship and repel violent storms that made the sea rough for Cuthbert Dube.

The nation expects exactly the opposite of that actor, who masqueraded as a football administrator, from you, the self-declared Nehemiah, the man who does not just talk, but is known for action, should I say Messiah of Zimbabwe football.

Now the stage is set for you, Dr Phil, as they call you, to rebuild and redeem that lost glory in our beloved soccer.

We have come to where reality crosses paths with dreams.

Dreams and ambitions are domiciled in one world, fulfilment of promises and reality in their own.

Now those two worlds have converged to form a whirlpool of great expectations.

I think when you resolved to stand for this post you really knew how you would handle the pressure and that you would give no excuses for failure, taking into account your extremely colourful and flamboyant manifesto.

By the way, that manifesto is the noose that will take your maladministration, if you happen to be unfortunate to fall into that, to the gallows so that you realise being colourful pays no dividends when reality is expected.

Results-based leadership is the mainstay of good governance, so just to remind you on this showmanship syndrome, which you are highly vulnerable to.

You need to create a new approach towards maturity, nobility, humility, sincerity and reality. I have also taken note of how you and Eddy Nyatanga have formed a symbiotic alliance that also took you to Kwekwe for the burial of legendary defence stalwart, Paul Gundani, although you never set foot in the cemetery to bid farewell to one of our heroes.

The whole nation hopes you will not create dubious posts within Zifa in order to accomodate people like Nyatanga to lead shadowy sectors that will have influence on strategic decisions within the organisation.

The other thing I would want to sincerely tell you is that, now you have ascended to your dream job, in Zurich you will meet the men who have all what it takes to be professional, mature and down-to-earth, so please make us proud as Zimbabwe and don’t you ever make this mistake of telling the guys the number of your cars, shirts, pairs of shoes or how much money you may claim to have.

When you tell them your daily dressing code is computer-chosen, they will update you on the latest trends hitting the wardrobes of Europe.

Remember, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are German carmakers, so it would be foolhardy for you to boast of your Merc while you are in Europe where they have the latest models as we speak.

Instead, just concentrate on your new job and actually learn your first steps since you have never led a demanding post like being the Zifa boss.

There is a great difference from leading the Affirmative Action Group or moribund companies like G&D Shoes, Crittal Hope and Zeco.

Learn from Dube’s failure and build your success around his failure and, mark my words, you will be the real Nehemiah, not a theoretical one.

We want to see proper renovations of stadia to international standards, total resolution to curb soccer violence, professionalism in refereeing and issues of the now legendary Warriors debacles.

Thank you, Chiyangwa, for reading this letter and good luck in your new job.