EDITORIAL COMMENT: Business can do more to assist Zifa Tom Saintfiet
Tom Saintfiet

Tom Saintfiet

IN an environment where everything to do with the Zimbabwe Football Association has been shrouded in doom and gloom, a silver lining shone through for the game this week when the cash-strapped association secured funding to pay off a long outstanding debt to former national coach Tom Saintfiet.

ZIFA have over the last five years struggled to secure any meaningful sponsorship whether by an individual or by a corporate partner and former president Cuthbert Dube ended up using his own resources to run the local soccer mother body whose debts in the same period ballooned to just over $6 million.

In contrast, corporate entities such as NetOne, Delta Beverages, Mbada Diamonds, SuperSport and BancABC found it better and easier to do business with the Premier Soccer League and their member clubs while no cent was channelled towards the coffers of ZIFA even for the national teams.

But in a rare and positive development for ZIFA, Harare businessman Wicknell Chivayo announced on Monday that he was giving ZIFA $1 million.

More importantly for ZIFA and for Zimbabwe, Chivayo committed himself to first paying off the $180 000 debt that the association has since June 2013 been failing to settle with Saintfiet through the Belgian coach’s lawyers.

And on Wednesday, Chivayo lived up to his promise and made a telegraphic transfer of $50 000 to Saintfiet’s lawyers with a pledge to pay off the second and third tranches by January 31 and March 31.

The cash boost presented the Zimbabwean football family with an early Christmas present as it will now ensure that their beloved Warriors will not be kicked out of the draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Zimbabwe has already suffered the heartbreak of being banned from the 2018 World Cup in Russia after ZIFA failed to settle another debt emanating from outstanding salaries to former Warriors coach Valinhos.

It is against this background that Chivayo’s timely intervention to save the 2022 World Cup dream must be welcomed and applauded.

That Chivayo has committed to and followed up on his pledge to make a telegraphic transfer to Saintfiet through his lawyers should also be a lesson to other individual sponsors and corporates that one can still do business and partner ZIFA in reviving the people’s game.

The sponsorship does not necessarily have to be given direct to ZIFA, but can be channelled towards servicing the association’s debts, payment of services rendered to the Warriors and Mighty Warriors or for junior development programmes that are key for the sustainability of football in Zimbabwe.

Football remains the country’s flagship sport and as such the kind of patriotism shown by Chivayo needs to be encouraged instead of being criticised.

With Government having too much on its plate at the moment, only individual sponsors like Chivayo and other corporate entities can help save Zimbabwe football from total collapse.

ZIFA, on their part, ought to show gratitude to Chivayo and other would-be sponsors by being professional and transparent in the manner they conduct their business and we believe that regularly publishing their audited accounts is a first major step.

That ZIFA have had to pay off Saintfiet $180 000 for just a day’s work in the country without the necessary work permit is a serious indictment on the ZIFA administration and a mistake that cannot be allowed to be repeated as we have all seen that the effects of such actions could result in a World Cup ban at worst.

We also applaud the giant steps that the ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa has taken after just 16 days in office to service ZIFA’s crippling debt and create a fresh environment where the association can concentrate on its core business of football development without being weighed down by court injunctions and regular visits by the Deputy Sheriff to attach property.

Any efforts to lure sponsors to football and sport in general deserve praise and encouragement as the game has also become a big business worldwide employing thousands of people.

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