SRC, ZIFA deal on football roadmap in limbo

THE reforms needed to find a lasting solution to local football might be inordinately delayed after revelations that the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) and the ZIFA Normalisation Committee are yet to agree on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) needed to pave the way for the much-needed roadmap.

In July last year, FIFA mandated the committee to “establish, with the help of FIFA, a collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Sport, the SRC and ZIFA, which will define the responsibilities and objectives of each party, including (but not exclusively) on the topic of sexual harassment”.

SRC director-general Eltah Nengomasha, however, accused the Normalisation Committee of stalling progress as it is reportedly sitting on the draft MoU.

“The MoU draft was done last year and it has been about five months now but the Normalisation Committee have never bothered to respond on the matter. Specific follow-ups have been made since then but to no avail,’’ Nengomasha said.

The simmering cold war between the SRC and the Normalisation Committee could attract the attention of FIFA director (member associations Africa) Gelson Fernandes.

Last month, SRC chairperson Gerald Mlotshwa publicly lashed out at the Normalisation Committee for “being petty’’ when it boycotted the December 10 commissioning of the Heart Stadium in Waterfalls by President Mnangagwa.

However, the committee’s chair, Lincoln Mutasa, claimed they had only been notified of the commissioning two days prior to the event.

“We only received invitations to the commissioning two days before the event and, by that time, it was too late,” he said.

“I was on my way to Morocco for the CAF awards and the rest of the committee members had already undertaken some personal commitments elsewhere.

“We had not had a break since our appointments and we had decided to take time off.”

However, communication between the Normalisation Committee, the SRC and Prophetic Healing Deliverance Ministries founder Walter Magaya — who constructed the Heart Stadium — showed that they had first been made aware of the impending commissioning on October 12.

It is believed that Magaya first offered the committee a chance to tour the stadium and offer professional guidance on the steps to be followed in line with the football body’s expectations, but beyond acknowledging the correspondence by way of a ZIFA stamp, none of the committee members bothered to be part of the subsequent visits carried at the facility, including by Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Kirsty Coventry.

Mlotshwa was reportedly not amused by the committee’s reaction to what should have been celebrated as an investment into domestic sports infrastructure.

The SRC want the Normalisation Committee to rise above personal differences in the discharge of their mandate.