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Bothwell Mahlengwe
IT came as a big relief for the football family when ZIFA finally picked their man for the secretary-general’s job last week, about a year after the advert for the position was flighted in the newspapers.

I gather quite a number responded, locals and foreigners and, interestingly I was among the applicants.

I love football and I felt it was a chance for me to live my passion.

Congratulations to Joseph Mamutse for getting the job.

But this job is one of those which can make or break someone because our game is at that point where it can make you a hero or a villain.

Already, it has done that to Sunday Chidzambwa, from being the fantastic Captain of the COSAFA Castle Cup-winning ship to the poor shepherd who fed his sheep to the Brave Warriors of Namibia.

All within weeks and such is the cruelty of football.

Philip Chiyangwa has come and put our football where we can be heard and what is needed now is for people to get their hands dirty and help him move our national game forward.

Mamutse’s appointment comes soon after the Warriors’ painful exit from the CHAN qualifiers and the Under-17s poor show at the COSAFA tournament in Mauritius.

Chiyangwa now has a lot on his plate right now, he has to take case of bigger issues like leading COSAFA, leading the big regional bloc that includes COSAFA, CECAFA and the North Africans and also the CAF business where he is a very influential man.

We need people below him now who know what they need to do, when that should be done and how it should be done so that everything isn’t loaded on the leader of our national game.

He has done his part to blow wind into the ship’s sails and he needs others to help him keep the ship drifting in the right direction and that’s why the secretary-general and relevant committees are important here.

When that happens you will see that things will sail smoothly and our Warriors will know when they are in action in their next friendly match and against whom and where that match will be played.

Our Warriors’ next AFCON assignment is in March and while it looks like we have time, the reality is that we don’t because time flies and before we know it we will be on a plane to face Congo-Brazzaville.

There is need for a substantive coach for the Warriors and the sooner we pick our man the better.

Then we have the issues of players with Zimbabwean connections.

Many have been identified without much movement on their drafting into the Warriors stable.

What needs to be done is to clarify their positions so that we are all in the clear because we need all the Zimbabwean talent to represent us as long as they are willing to do so and can add value to the team.

Now that we have a substantive head of the ZIFA secretariat we should see movement towards ensuring these issues are sorted out.

The good thing is that Mamutse is not new to ZIFA given he has been around for some time and he can’t say he is trying to find his way into the job because we expect him to get things running now that he has been given the big mandate.

He needs to be visible, instead of keeping a low profile as has been the case, because he is now the face of the Association and the last thing he needs is to walk into a meeting, with a prospective sponsor, and say ‘‘don’t you know me, I’m Mamutse, the ZIFA CEO.’’

He has a huge task, no doubt about it, but he also deserves our support and I am one of those ready to lend that helping hand.

Bothwell Mahlengwe is a banker and former Premiership footballer and can be contacted, for feedback, on the email – [email protected].