The sacking of Jonathan Mashingaidze as Zifa chief executive officer this week, which many football followers thought was long overdue, was greeted with a resounding consensus by most stakeholders.
For many years, Mashingaidze — together with previous Zifa president Cuthbert Dube — had turned the association into their personal property. The two often made major decisions at 53 Livingstone Avenue, without the input of the Zifa assembly.
With councillors being sidelined from crucial meetings, Zimbabwean football had become the laughing stock of the world.
It culminated with the Warriors’ expulsion from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers by Fifa after the national football association failed to pay a mere $67 000 owed to former coach Valinhos.
The charge sheet against Mashingaidze is as long as the Nile River so there is no point in dwelling on it.
What Zifa must do now is begin the recruitment process of a reliable, professional and competent secretary-general.
As things stand, Zifa’s public image is severely battered which has deterred corporate sponsors from investing in the various national teams.
It is the job of this new CEO to ensure there is a complete turn-around in how the Zifa secretariat operates.
By bringing sanity and good governance at Zifa, corporates will regain their confidence and possibly rekindle their interest in partnering the association.
It will not be an easy task to reposition the Zifa secretariat into a modern football association that will attract corporate sponsorship, but with the right person as CEO; it can be done.
It is our hope that Zifa president Phillip Chiyangwa and his board will come up with the right person for this key position at the association.
Since Zifa is a public entity, the board needs to flight an advert in the media calling upon qualified and experienced persons to apply for the post.
Shortlisted candidates will then be interviewed by a competent panel and the right candidate will surely surface.
The candidate must be chosen purely on merit and not on the basis of personal relations with someone at Zifa or in the corridors of power in government.
Zimbabwe has so many capable men and women with the potential to lead the secretariat of Zifa and immediately start on a programme to spruce up the football mother body’s battered image.
Success of the process will show the outside world that there is indeed good corporate governance at Zifa. Daily News
