Zifa House exposes local football rot

Sport
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino was in Africa last week on a tour which saw him visiting several African countries such as Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Egypt.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino was in Africa last week on a tour which saw him visiting several African countries such as Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Egypt.

by sports correspondent

The tour of duty gave the Fifa boss an insight of what was on the ground in terms of football development programmes, governance issues and the future of football.

It is hoped that Infantino and Fifa general-secretary, Fatima Samoura were able to appreciate that what is being said by some of the football association leaders is different from what is on the ground. Infantino toured the Safa House in South Africa, Sigwaca House in Swaziland and Fufa House in Uganda. These are headquarters of the respective football associations.

In Zimbabwe, the Zifa House, the football association’s headquarters at 53 Livingstone Avenue, remained closed and unoccupied. The Zifa business is now being conducted at Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa’s private offices which, ironically, are emblazoned with banners of the ill-fated National Football Association of Zimbabwe project.

One wonders what the Fifa delegation’s impression was about this state of affairs.

Countries such as Swaziland and Uganda have utilised the Fifa funds to build technical training centres.

We await the construction of the new Zifa headquarters, hoping that it will not take more than 10 years to complete it, like what happened with the Zifa Village. It is every football stakeholder’s hope that the Fifa team discussed the issue of governance at Zifa.

The association is operating without a substantive chief executive officer, 10 months after parting ways with Jonathan Mashingaidze.

The executive committee members are currently running the day-to-day operations of the association, while the local football governing body’s judicial bodies such as the disciplinary committee and the appeals committee are not functional.

The referees’ desk is not providing the training for the elite referees. No wonder why our referees have played second fiddle to their regional counterparts from countries like Zambia and South Africa, who currently have some of the best referees on the continent.

Lastly, we trust that the Sports and Recreation minister Makhosini Hlongwane’s “Year of Good Corporate Governance” will be successful.