Hokonya withdraws from Zifa race
THE ZIFA election took another turn yesterday with aspiring presidential candidate Patrick Hokonya withdrawing from the race and instead throwing his weight behind those in charge of domestic football.
Hokonya had been preparing a challenge to become the next ZIFA president when elections are held in December.
The 45-year-old administrator was the first man to openly declare his candidature in April.
Four months on, Hokonya has had a change of heart.
He said he has now thrown his weight behind the Philip Chiyangwa executive at ZIFA to continue managing the affairs of the association.
Following the streamlining recommended by FIFA, ZIFA’s board is now made up of a president, his deputy and four members who are elected by Congress and also include a member representing the Premier Soccer League and the Zimbabwe Women’s Soccer League.
Hokonya, who had his first dance with the ZIFA board in 2010, had been hoping to return as the leader of the football body.
“I just recently moved to Harare and I am trying to establish my business and I don’t think I will give football the attention that it deserves,” said Hokonya.
“I think there is need to let those that have both the capacity and the time to run the game do so and I am ready to offer my support to them.
“I also take this opportunity to congratulate Omega Sibanda and Philip Chiyangwa for winning the parliamentary seats in their constituencies.
“Many people who are in football will be happy to have such people in Parliament because football is a huge employer in the country, one only needs to look at the numbers employed at the clubs and the downstream industries.
“We need its voice and that of sport in general to be carried into Parliament.”
Hokonya said he has a passion for grassroots football and had been charmed to note that both Chiyangwa and Sibanda had, in their political campaigns, pledged to set up structures in Zvimba South and Vungu which are both rural constituencies.
ZIFA, through technical director Wilson Mutekede, have also stepped up their act to develop the game from grassroots through to high performance.
“I have been following their campaigns in their constituencies and they have tried to establish football structures in those constituencies, among the various projects they have lined up for the people in their areas,” said Hokonya.
“I am a supporter of football first and an administrator second. When you are an administrator you want a person at the helm who can support the structures.
“It is also very important that we have people who are in football to grow the game and not to try and make money out of football.
“We must have the conscience and the consensus to let those who are in a better position to administer the game and lead it do so and we should offer our support and that I is what I am doing.”
Although more names are likely to be thrown into the race for the ZIFA leadership when the ZIFA Electoral Committee opens nominations for the board, Hokonya believes in continuity.
ZIFA’s leadership have accused the Sports Commission of undermining their mandate to administer the country’s biggest sport and threatening to invoke Section 30 of the Sport and Recreation Act in order to force a change of guard at the association.
But Hokonya says he is content with the direction the game is taking and will probably relaunch his bid at the end of the four-year tenure of the next ZIFA board.
Hokonya’s football administration career started off at Zimbabwe Saints when he was appointed the club’s treasurer in an interim committee set up by the now defunct club’s life members in 2006.
The following year, he rose to become the club’s secretary-general, but lasted just a year after leaving to take up the position of inaugural Central Region chairman in 2010, subsequently becoming a ZIFA board member.
Back then regional chairpersons automatically became ZIFA board members, but following recommendations from FIFA, who expressed reservations about a bloated board, the association amended their constitution.