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Cuthbert Dube

Bulawayo Bureau
ASPIRING Zifa presidency can­didate Nigel Munyati has made stunning revelations that Cuth­bert Dube never set foot at Zifa House at 53 Livingstone Avenue in Harare during his four years in charge of domestic football.He also disclosed that the Zifa boss had probably watched just four football matches ever since he came into office in 2010.

Munyati revealed this when he met local journalists at a hotel on Saturday afternoon as part of his whirlwind tour of the provinces to gather support for his candi­dature.

“I am a board member of Zifa and what I can tell you about the president is that he has never set foot at the Zifa offices, despite being its chief. It’s shocking really but that’s the truth,” said Munyati.

“I also know for a fact that the president has watched just four matches since coming in as the Zifa president, the Brazil inter­national friendly, the Bob Super Cup, one Mighty Warriors match and one match when Fifa presi­dent, Sepp Blatter visited, that’s it.”

Dube, too, never went to Bar­bourfields during his entire term in office. Munyati, who promised to reduce or cancel the levies that clubs pay to Zifa, said it would be a very sad and dark day in the history of Zimbabwean football if Dube was re-elected at the next elections.

“If that man wins, I can tell you it will be a sad chapter in the his­tory of our football. It’s simply unimaginable,” said Munyati, the founding director of the famed Aces Youth Academy.

“The electorate should be care­ful and vote for football brains and that is me, if he wins, God help us.”

Munyati said football was cry­ing out for a leadership change at the very top. He said the much talked about investigations into the Asiagate scam had been a monumental failure and advo­cated for reconciliation.

He said if voted into office, he would not have any hesitation in pardoning the likes of Sun­day Chidzambwa and Guthrie Zhokinyu.

“If President Mugabe could pardon well over a thousand hardcore criminals, who are we of a lesser stature not to forgive our own? Yes, they may be legal reper­cussions but some of the guys are my friends who I can talk to not to take that route,” said Munyati.

“It’s a fact, some people took money to throw away games but we have failed to come up with a legal framework to pin these cul­prits and our situation has been made worse by Fifa’s failure to endorse those sanctions so, at the end of the day, why can’t we agree that the crusade has failed and we move on.

“Let us move on as a football country, why should we perse­cute our own sons when Fifa has refused to endorse the sanctions?

“In any event some of us have done worse off things as admin­istrators. Why should you pun­ish an 18-year-old kid for taking a US$500 bribe when we have paid 10 times more than that to manipulate the vote?”

Munyati was accompanied by his campaign manager, for­mer Dynamos secretary-general Tawanda Murerekwa, and they are set to leave Bulawayo today for the Midlands.