Beware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing
THE on-going 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is fulfilling its promise and the established African football power houses have learned — once again — to be ware of the minnows.
This was laid bare to the whole world by the Brave Warriors of Namibia’s shock 1-0 win over the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, who once held the mantle of Africa’s top ranked national football team.
Not forgetting that another of Zimbabwe’s neighbours, Mozambique, were just a few seconds away from a shock 2-1 win over seven-time champions Egypt before a contentious 97th minute Mohamed Salah penalty settled the score at 2-2.
What is interesting is that Namibia, just like Zimbabwe, were a few years ago under the direct control of Fifa through a normalisation committee and are now enjoying the results of their football’s transformation from the leadership of a normalisation committee to an elected management.
What that tells us is that with the array of international stars we have, Zimbabwe can even scale greater heights than those of the Brave Warriors of Namibia if we manage our transformation well from the Lincoln Mutasa-led normalisation committee to a substantive Zifa board.
From what we have heard and seen, Mutasa, on his part, is willing to see a swift and smooth transformation from the NC to a new Zifa board-era and is prepared to wade off the resistance he has been facing from within his own NC - some of whom want an extension of power.
What the Zimbabwean football family should do is to put pressure on Mutasa to expedite the process to ensure that by June 30 all is in place for a new Zifa board to take over the running of football once again.
However, between now and then, the football family should be wary of the wolves that come in sheep’s clothing, with loads of cash, promising heaven on earth if elected into power yet in reality there have nothing to offer.
The two years of the Fifa ban was the ideal opportunity for the football fraternity to look around and identify the right people to lead the Zimbabwean game rather than those who pretend to be messiahs yet deep inside they have hidden agendas.
The moment one starts throwing around cash to influence opinion, as is happening now, means that person is not the right candidate as he will later on take back his money with 1000 percent interest when he ascends to power.
Zimbabwe does not necessarily need rich people or former footballers in its corridors of football power but honest leaders with a passion for the game and a desire to move it forward and stop the decline of the national teams.
Surely, day by day, Zimbabwean football is falling behind and the events in the Ivory Coast are evidence enough to show that the gulf between the Warriors and Africa’s big boys is widening while the gap between the Warriors and the so-called small teams has narrowed.
Surely, we might blame Felton Kamambo for this decline but the truth is that our game has suffered over a longer period because of the manner in which we have been electing our leadership starting with the lower leagues.
We have over and over again highlighted that the Zifa Assembly has always been comprised of the wrong people and that should be the starting point in correcting where we have always been getting it wrong.
Now that we have been given the opportunity to start all over again, we should have a rethink on whom we will elect into this august house so that eventually we have a Zifa board that has direction.
In our district, provinces, and regions, we have people with passion for football who have strong leadership qualities whom we can entrust with slots in the Zifa assembly instead of those who have been there or those who come because they have money or that they played football at the highest level.
As we move towards a new era in Zimbabwean football, if we get it wrong at district, provincial, and regional level, then Fifa will soon be knocking on our doors again — and that is what we don’t want.
The moment we have a strong Zifa assembly, we will also have a strong, vibrant, and credible Zifa board, and the road towards that starts with getting rid of the old order.
*For your views, comments, and suggestions mkariati@ gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0773 266 779.