Curtworth Masango
OMEGA SIBANDA, the former ZIFA vice president, has castigated individuals who are running parallel structures to the ZIFA Normalisation Committee.
He said such individuals were positioning themselves for future roles in the national association.
Sibanda singled out long-serving football administrator, Francis Zimunya, as one of the people whose parallel structures will undermine Lincoln Mutasa’s work as head of the ZIFA NC.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sport, Sibanda claimed that Zimunya was using his previous role as Mutasa’s election manager to impose himself on the current interim leadership, which was appointed by FIFA.
He says the ZIFA leadership need support.
“The rest of us should give them a chance to do their work without interfering. People like Francis Zimunya have been trying to set agendas while wrongly misinterpreting things, tarnishing the image of the ZIFA NC.
“I wonder who is funding such projects.
“They are trying to run a parallel structure, which is centred in Harare, and pretending to be good for football. Where are the rest of the other provinces?
“We are all supposed to take a backseat and let them implement what FIFA mandated them to do. They are setting up several committees, which are decentralised all over the country, to help them implement their work.
“Let’s give them a chance until their term comes to an end.”
He said he was happy with the work Mutasa has done.
“I am very happy with the developments done by the ZIFA NC so far,” said Sibanda. “They came at a time when the country wasn’t having international football and through their efforts the national team is now back in contention.
“I can say all Zimbabweans are happy to have the country drafted back in by FIFA, and this is despite the fact that now we are hosting our matches outside the country.
“But we are quite sure the NC is working hand in hand with the government to deal with the issue of stadiums.
“We are quite sure that the issue of grounds will be solved.”
He added:
“But, personally, I don’t like the situation which is now happening. We are having people moving around tarnishing the name of the NC and attacking them right, left and centre.
“We have to remind each other that the NC was appointed by FIFA and they are simply implementing what they were mandated to do.”