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Jonathan Mashingaidze

Sports Reporter
ZIFA have pledged to implement the strategic plan they crafted at the weekend when the association’s board, assembly and secretariat met for a retreat at the Zifa Village over the weekend.
Jonathan Mashingaidze, Zifa chief executive, said it was important that the game’s administrator’s do turn the discussion on the strategic plan into a talk shop and indicated that its success would be measured by how the soccer mother body implements the resolutions.

“We will work tirelessly to ensure that the strategic document does not end on paper, it is our obligation to implement it to the fullest,” Mashingaidze told the association’s official website.

Zifa engaged strategic management expert Simba Sibanda as a facilitator during the two-day retreat which ended on Sunday night.
Sibanda also urged Zifa to come up with a plan that drew similarities with such institutions like the government which unveiled the Zim Asset economic blue print.

The new plan, Zifa said, will incorporate the expectations of all stakeholders as well as those of the association in order to carry along all the concerned parties in the revival of the game.

“We should come up with a blueprint that aids in government’s implementation of Zim Asset by creating employment for the youthful population of Zimbabwe,” said Sibanda.

Although Zifa indicated that they would make the finer details of the blue print public once it had been finished with the drafting, it emerged that that the association tabled some key result areas such as competitions in which they would want to refocus their priorities for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 regional and international competitions.

Zifa president Cuthbert Dube had earlier set the tone for the assembly’s extraordinary meeting and the strategic retreat when he suggested austerity measures as part of efforts to clear the US$4 million debt which the association is saddled with.

The strategic plan is also expected to come up with ways of widening Zifa’s revenue streams including the sale of merchandise.
A Fifa expert is also expected in the country to help Zifa craft a more aggressive marketing plan.

With Zifa’s audited accounts having been ratified by the assembly last Friday, the association seeks to redirect and restructure in order to ensure effective development, promotion and protection of the local brand of football.

Willard Manyengavana, the Zifa Northern Region Chairperson, hailed the outcome of the retreat as a step in the right direction for local football.
“I believe that this is what our football needs right now.

We should just go straight away into implementing it as soon as we have the proper document,” Manyengavana said.
Zifa president Dube expressed concern over the association’s current financial position but said he was ready to move on.

“We are not happy as the board but we need to move on said Dube
“We should come up with an advertised press statement to the media, to Caf and Fifa, tell them the truth about our situation.
“I have been considering writing off the association’s debt to my companies.”

It was also resolved that a vibrant audit and finance committee be put in place.