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Sports Reporter—

THE Zimbabwe Handball Federation, whose interim executive board was suspended in March this year, are set to hold their much-awaited elections at the Sports Commission’s offices at the National Sports Stadium in Harare tomorrow.The nominations for the various posts have already been submitted to the Sports Commission.

According to the list released by the Sports Commission this week, Ephias Mahachi and Stewart Sanhewe are vying for the president’s post.

Mahachi is from top army handball side Black Rhinos while Sanhewe used to lead Bulawayo-based outfit Shanana Stars and is the provincial chairperson of Bulawayo Province.

The trio of Mutare-based Alan Mandeya, seasoned handball coach and administrator Alfos Mhondiwa and Bernard Muzanenhamo are contesting for the vice-presidency.

Mandeya has been involved in handball both as a player and coach for the past 21 years and is the head coach of Mutare-based side Hardshots while Mhondiwa has been heavily involved in the development of the sport in the Mashonaland West Province for more than a decade now.

The other candidate for the vice-president’s post – Muzanenhamo – is also a seasoned handball administrator who has also been mainly involved in running the sport at junior level.

For the secretary-general’s post there are three nominations as well – Clemence Tauro, Edson Chiroodza and Joana Takafuma – while Claver Boterere and Josiah Sithole are running for the treasurer’s post.

The ZHF have been running without a substantive executive board since the one which was led by Agrippa Sora stepped down some more than three years ago, leading to the Sports Commission appointing an interim committee which was led by the now-suspended Amon Madzvamuse.

The past couple of years saw the ZHF being run by Madzvamuse with the assistance of seasoned handball administrator Alphios Magiya but their interim committee failed to get the sport out of the doldrums, leading to their suspension by the Sports Commission at the beginning of this year.

In fact, there’s no national handball league to talk about at the moment as the sport is mainly played at school level while Harare Province only managed to get their own league running this year.

But it is hoped that if a new substantive executive board is voted into power during tomorrow’s elections, it will usher in a new era into the sport which of late has surprisingly been gaining some popularity among the youths in this country.

The past four or five years have seen Zimbabwe sending a number of junior teams to some top international handball tournaments such as the Partille Cup in Sweden and the Hanse Cup in Germany.

The country has also participated in the last two editions of the IHF Zone Six Under-20 tournament which were both held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2014 and this year where the boys and girls teams finished in the top four on both occasions.

But it is the failure by the previous ZHF executive boards, including the interim one, to come up with proper structures at national level that have been a cause for concern among the sport’s stakeholders who also want to see a senior national league being put in place.

The local handball stakeholders are also calling for checks and balances in the sport amid reports that funds and equipment which were donated to Zimbabwe by the International Handball Federation were not properly accounted for.

“In fact, a couple of years ago a top handball coach from Switzerland donated some kit, which included balls and tracksuits, but they all ended up in the wrong hands because there was no accountability at the ZHF and the teams and players ended up losing out from this donation,” said a local handball stakeholder.

“There are a lot of people from overseas who would like to help in the development of handball in Zimbabwe but they are not able to do so because there are no proper structures in place in the sport in the country at the moment.”