Gumede takes a dig on Zifa

Former Football Administrator Ndumiso Gumede, has criticised the leadership of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa), for its alleged mismanagement of football in the Southern African country in recent years.

Regarded as one of the finest football brains of all time in Zimbabwe, the iconic football administrator believes the current executive board of football and its secretariat have failed to run the game.

In an interview with ZTN, Gumede said it is impossible to run football with a ‘skeleton board’ as is the case with the current Zifa board.

“Our weakest link is the secretariat. The other guys who are voted in are part time, but the people who drive the board are the administration.

“However, in the administration there were many people who were purged during Chiyangwa’s time and those people have not been replaced.

“So to have a skeleton administration led by Mamutse, who himself is wet behind the ears, is just a recipe for disaster,” he said.

The same script that saw several individuals being kicked out by the previous executive led by Philip Chiyangwa in trivial fights, is playing out again at Zifa.

It did not take long for the Kamambo-led executive to follow in the footsteps of the previous executive. The association’s vice president Gift Banda was suspended earlier this year on allegations of “usurping the powers” of the Executive and the Technical Committees.

Gumede said there has been more regression in Zimbabwe football in recent years than at any time, and it will take a long time for the game to improve.

“Nothing positive in football has really happened ever since our time.

“Cuthbert (Dube) was unfortunately not too well when he was Zifa president and I did a lot of running around for him because he was sickly.

“After him things took a dive so much that our football has really suffered and it will take time to get out of that predicament,” he said.

The Zifa Executive committee, led by former Mhangura player and Eastern Region boss, Felton Kamambo is under fire for the way they bungled the Warriors’ participation at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

The outspoken Gumede did not just point out the negatives but proffered solutions that he thinks could probably help rejuvenate the game if considered.

“We need a rethinking of who should be put at the helm.

“We need someone with acute administrative skills. I don’t have anyone in particular but we should try to persuade some of our former players like (Benjani) Mwaruwari, Peter Ndlovu and Bruce Grobbelaar, people who have played football at the highest level to come and assist.

“Yes we may have an honorary person at the top but the running of that board must be left with a person with requisite experience,” he said.

He added that the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) should take sport seriously, while the issue of funding should also be addressed.