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Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association leader Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga has thrown his full weight behind incumbent Philip Chiyangwa to retain his post as ZIFA president at polls scheduled for tomorrow. The Harare property mogul faces the challenge of former board member Felton Kamambo in the first ZIFA presidential elections, in a long time, to feature only two people.

Chiyangwa was a runaway winner with more than 70 percent of the vote when he beat a heavyweight field that included Trevor Carelse-Juul, Leslie Gwindi and James Takavada two years ago.

Those elections were triggered by the decision by councillors to oust the leadership fronted by Cuthbert Dube, amid a myriad of challenges, including Zimbabwe’s expulsion from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Chiyangwa and his crew came into power with just a month left for ZIFA to pay $180 000 owed to Belgian coach Tom Saintfet, who only worked as Warriors coach for two days before his deportation for working without a work permit.

Failure to pay off that debt would have seen the Warriors barred from taking part in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, but Chiyangwa and his crew managed to secure the funding for the payment and averted the sanctions.

Nyatanga believes Chiyangwa deserves a full term in charge of ZIFA because, he says, there have been a lot of positives in the game which outweigh the negatives.

“Cuthbert Dube was there for six years and it was disastrous. We never played at the AFCON finals during his term and we suffered the humiliation of being expelled from the World Cup ruining the advancement of the careers of our boys,” said Nyatanga.

“The irony is that some of those who now have come out to say they want to take charge of our game were in key leadership positions as influential councillors during those dark years when our football was suffering.

“They were there holding influential positions and never asked questions when the debt rose from just $600 000 to more than $7 million and now they claim they can provide real leadership.

“The big question is why didn’t they provide such real leadership back then and it’s clear they have just come on board as chancers who think, because everything is now moving in the right direction, they can enjoy the good times.

“Some people say Chiyangwa is not a football person, but l always ask them how did African football, for about 30 years, get to be led by someone who was from athletics and this man even rose to become acting FIFA president?

“I ask them, can they tell me where and when did they read that the leader of FIFA Gianni Infantino was once one of the world’s leading footballers?

“Leaders don’t have to come from those who were the best players, but those who are smart enough to find solutions to the challenges that the game faces and have the capacity to take it forward.”

Nyatanga said the revival of the Warriors and the Young Warriors and the competitiveness of the Mighty Warriors show that Chiyangwa and his team deserve more time.

“In football it’s all about results and nothing else and we have seen our Warriors doing well and we have also seen our Young Warriors being revived and they were just minutes away from winning the COSAFA title on Thursday,” said Nyatanga.

“This shows real progress. Even our colleagues in the region saw that Chiyangwa was a different and capable leader and they chose him to lead COSAFA and he now holds influential positions in CAF.

“We need continuity because running ZIFA is different from running a region and we saw the disaster that unfolded when we trusted Cuthbert Dube with this position and responsibility on the basis he had done well as the Eastern Region chairman.”