Opinion / Columnist
Zifa's biggest witch-hunt
29 Dec 2024 at 08:37hrs | Views
DURING my youthful days in Chakari, we used to have regular visits by some chaps who were called witch-hunters.
Their job, we were told, was to flush out witches within our community and we would all gather at a place we called Zimbabwe Grounds and watch the drama unfold.
The people identified as witches would come with their scary tools of the trade which, among other things, included snakes, elephants, monkeys and hyenas.
They would be paraded and humiliated and these tools of the trade would be destroyed by the witch-hunters.
Later, thanks to education, I got to know that this was not only restricted to our little mining town.
But, this is something that happened worldwide and between 1450 and 1750, more than 60 000 people were executed around Europe after being labelled witches by witch-hunters.
This week, I felt the ZIFA Ethics Committee behaved like a bunch of witch-hunters when they disqualified a number of candidates from the elections set for next month.
Their decision to disqualify Farai Jere and Prophet Walter Magaya from the race for the ZIFA presidency appeared to me more like a witch-hunt than one based on the need to protect the integrity of the race.
It has compromised the integrity of the poll and taken some gloss off the race.
Jere was disqualified because his O-Level certificate had a different surname to the one he uses now and which appears on his Accounting degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
When he wrote and passed his O-Level exams, he was known as Farai Mutimbo, but in 2002, he officially changed his surname, something which is confirmed by the Government Gazette, to Farai Jere.
This guy is not a new face in our football – he has been in its trenches for more than two decades in different administrative capacities, culminating in him becoming PSL chairman six years ago.
He was part of the ZIFA board under Felton Kamambo and was the head of delegation for the Warriors at the 2019 AFCON finals in Egypt.
If the ZIFA Ethics Committee were not on a witch-hunt, I would have expected them to engage him, once they saw there was a discrepancy in the names, and try and establish the correct position.
There is nothing in the ZIFA constitution that says the Ethics Committee cannot engage the subjects of issues they are dealing with.
In a country where even serial rapists and mass murderers are given a chance to be heard, at the High Court, even when there is overwhelming evidence against them, it's ridiculous that the ZIFA Ethics Committee could not spare a minute to clarify things with Jere.
So, why would we then have a ZIFA process which is so hostile to those seeking positions of leadership at the association it bars them from, at least, providing a simple explanation as to why there are different names to the documents they supplied?
Surely, a five-minute conversation on this subject would have cleared the air and ensured that the ZIFA Ethics Committee do not appear as if they have direct interest in the identities of people they don't want to head the association.
Jere has said he will not contest the decision to bar him and he is right because it's clear that some people within the ZIFA structures did not like him to end up leading the association.
There is no point in trying to force things and when he leaves his post as PSL chairman next week, he will go away with peace of mind knowing he left a legacy at the top-flight league.
Securing that 1.4 hectares prime real estate, where the PSL will build its headquarters and, at last, end their status as one of the longest-serving corporate lodgers in this country, will always define his legacy.
Now even being disqualified from the ZIFA race, using such flimsy reasons, can erase that.
THE QUESTIONS SURROUNDING MAGAYA'S BAN
It's the same for Magaya.
Yes, he has had a number of legal challenges but that is also the case with some of those who have been cleared to run this race.
I feel that, as the football community, we should not be double-faced to such an extent that we treat some people as angels, when they are helping our game, and as devils, when we don't want them to lead the same game.
If we feel such people do not have the right characters or personalities to lead our game, we should close the door on them from the beginning so that they are not part of it in any way.
How do we celebrate the resurgence of Khama Billiat, and the part he played in helping our Warriors qualify for the 2025 AFCON finals, while at the same time telling the man, who was responsible for all this, that he doesn't have the right character or personality to lead our national game?
This is the same Khama Billiat who was voted by the fans as their Footballer of the Year, came third in the poll for the Soccer Star of the Year and came second in the Golden Boot race.
Why is it that when his resources, and commitment, were helping Billiat to rediscover his soul again, we were fine with that and we chose not to look at his legal challenges?
And, when he decided that he wanted to lead our national game, we then started seeing all these legal challenges and he suddenly wasn't someone fit for that job?
Why did we allow the ZIFA Northern Region Division One to have a tournament, sponsored by Magaya for US$30 000, when we had issues with the sponsor's character?
Why did we allow all our provincial teams to accept US$40 000 worth of kits, allow the Warriors and Mighty Warriors to receive tens of thousands of dollars, allow these teams' to camp at his complex if we really felt he was a shady character who should not be part of the leadership of our game?
Why didn't we reject the US$320 000, which he poured into the Heart League, which has revived the dying structures of our women's football, because it was coming from a shady character?
How does a man who paid US$67 000 to help ZIFA pay off the debt which was owed to Brazilian coach Valinhos now be deemed to be of such a shady character he cannot be allowed to try his luck to be the ZIFA boss?
Why didn't we tell FIFA that the man who paid the US$67,000 to Valinhos, which helped us to avoid a FIFA ban in 2015, is of such a shady character he cannot be the ZIFA boss?
He can't be a good and acceptable man in our football when he is helping us avoid a FIFA ban and then turn into this monster when he wants to contest in the ZIFA elections.
He can't be a good and acceptable man in our football when he is building a stadium, which has the best pitch in the country, and become a monster when he wants to contest in the ZIFA poll.
These are the questions which the ZIFA Ethics Committee should have been asking themselves and it's very likely they would have come with some good answers.
The point is that we can't have our cake and eat it, too.
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle. Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!
Text Feedback: 0772545199, WhatsApp: 0772545199, Email: robson.sharuko@zimpapers.co.zw
Their job, we were told, was to flush out witches within our community and we would all gather at a place we called Zimbabwe Grounds and watch the drama unfold.
The people identified as witches would come with their scary tools of the trade which, among other things, included snakes, elephants, monkeys and hyenas.
They would be paraded and humiliated and these tools of the trade would be destroyed by the witch-hunters.
Later, thanks to education, I got to know that this was not only restricted to our little mining town.
But, this is something that happened worldwide and between 1450 and 1750, more than 60 000 people were executed around Europe after being labelled witches by witch-hunters.
This week, I felt the ZIFA Ethics Committee behaved like a bunch of witch-hunters when they disqualified a number of candidates from the elections set for next month.
Their decision to disqualify Farai Jere and Prophet Walter Magaya from the race for the ZIFA presidency appeared to me more like a witch-hunt than one based on the need to protect the integrity of the race.
It has compromised the integrity of the poll and taken some gloss off the race.
Jere was disqualified because his O-Level certificate had a different surname to the one he uses now and which appears on his Accounting degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
When he wrote and passed his O-Level exams, he was known as Farai Mutimbo, but in 2002, he officially changed his surname, something which is confirmed by the Government Gazette, to Farai Jere.
This guy is not a new face in our football – he has been in its trenches for more than two decades in different administrative capacities, culminating in him becoming PSL chairman six years ago.
He was part of the ZIFA board under Felton Kamambo and was the head of delegation for the Warriors at the 2019 AFCON finals in Egypt.
If the ZIFA Ethics Committee were not on a witch-hunt, I would have expected them to engage him, once they saw there was a discrepancy in the names, and try and establish the correct position.
There is nothing in the ZIFA constitution that says the Ethics Committee cannot engage the subjects of issues they are dealing with.
In a country where even serial rapists and mass murderers are given a chance to be heard, at the High Court, even when there is overwhelming evidence against them, it's ridiculous that the ZIFA Ethics Committee could not spare a minute to clarify things with Jere.
So, why would we then have a ZIFA process which is so hostile to those seeking positions of leadership at the association it bars them from, at least, providing a simple explanation as to why there are different names to the documents they supplied?
Surely, a five-minute conversation on this subject would have cleared the air and ensured that the ZIFA Ethics Committee do not appear as if they have direct interest in the identities of people they don't want to head the association.
Jere has said he will not contest the decision to bar him and he is right because it's clear that some people within the ZIFA structures did not like him to end up leading the association.
There is no point in trying to force things and when he leaves his post as PSL chairman next week, he will go away with peace of mind knowing he left a legacy at the top-flight league.
Securing that 1.4 hectares prime real estate, where the PSL will build its headquarters and, at last, end their status as one of the longest-serving corporate lodgers in this country, will always define his legacy.
THE QUESTIONS SURROUNDING MAGAYA'S BAN
It's the same for Magaya.
Yes, he has had a number of legal challenges but that is also the case with some of those who have been cleared to run this race.
I feel that, as the football community, we should not be double-faced to such an extent that we treat some people as angels, when they are helping our game, and as devils, when we don't want them to lead the same game.
If we feel such people do not have the right characters or personalities to lead our game, we should close the door on them from the beginning so that they are not part of it in any way.
How do we celebrate the resurgence of Khama Billiat, and the part he played in helping our Warriors qualify for the 2025 AFCON finals, while at the same time telling the man, who was responsible for all this, that he doesn't have the right character or personality to lead our national game?
This is the same Khama Billiat who was voted by the fans as their Footballer of the Year, came third in the poll for the Soccer Star of the Year and came second in the Golden Boot race.
Why is it that when his resources, and commitment, were helping Billiat to rediscover his soul again, we were fine with that and we chose not to look at his legal challenges?
And, when he decided that he wanted to lead our national game, we then started seeing all these legal challenges and he suddenly wasn't someone fit for that job?
Why did we allow the ZIFA Northern Region Division One to have a tournament, sponsored by Magaya for US$30 000, when we had issues with the sponsor's character?
Why did we allow all our provincial teams to accept US$40 000 worth of kits, allow the Warriors and Mighty Warriors to receive tens of thousands of dollars, allow these teams' to camp at his complex if we really felt he was a shady character who should not be part of the leadership of our game?
Why didn't we reject the US$320 000, which he poured into the Heart League, which has revived the dying structures of our women's football, because it was coming from a shady character?
How does a man who paid US$67 000 to help ZIFA pay off the debt which was owed to Brazilian coach Valinhos now be deemed to be of such a shady character he cannot be allowed to try his luck to be the ZIFA boss?
Why didn't we tell FIFA that the man who paid the US$67,000 to Valinhos, which helped us to avoid a FIFA ban in 2015, is of such a shady character he cannot be the ZIFA boss?
He can't be a good and acceptable man in our football when he is helping us avoid a FIFA ban and then turn into this monster when he wants to contest in the ZIFA elections.
He can't be a good and acceptable man in our football when he is building a stadium, which has the best pitch in the country, and become a monster when he wants to contest in the ZIFA poll.
These are the questions which the ZIFA Ethics Committee should have been asking themselves and it's very likely they would have come with some good answers.
The point is that we can't have our cake and eat it, too.
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle. Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!
Text Feedback: 0772545199, WhatsApp: 0772545199, Email: robson.sharuko@zimpapers.co.zw
Source - The Herald
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