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Grace Chingoma
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports Commission have reiterated there is no room for lawlessness in domestic sport and tough decisions will be taken to stop sport from sliding into a dark pit.

This week, the SRC suspended their director-general, Prince Mupazviriho, and ZIFA chief executive Joseph Mamutse,.

The SRC are unhappy in the way in which applications, for foreign football trips involving the national teams, were being handled in this delicate period of Covid-19.

The duo will remain on the sidelines to enable investigations into how a number of national football teams were cleared for foreign assignments, under questionable circumstances, in this Covid-19 environment.

Gerald Mlotshwa, the Sports Commission board chairman, said without pre-empting anything, he was optimistic the appeal for the Young Warriors to play at the COSAFA championships will be addressed by the responsible authorities.

“So, in short, without pre-empting the powers that be, I am optimistic that the U-20s application will be managed appropriately by all parties concerned,” he said.

Mlotshwa then addressed a number of critical areas, in an exclusive interview, with The Saturday Herald.

Question: What is the status of the ZIFA appeal which they made after the Under-20 trip to South Africa was cancelled by the SRC?

Gerald Mlotshwa (GM): “It must be understood that the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), has no power to authorise, or disprove of a tour outside of Zimbabwe, under the present Covid-19 regulations and protocols relating to sport.

“That power is vested in the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation acting in liaison with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

“The Sports and Recreation Commission simply acts as a compliance agent for the purposes of vetting applications through its Covid-19 Board Committee and making the necessary recommendations to the Minister, if the application appears to meet all qualifying requirements.

“Once a decision has been made by Government, SRC simply communicates this to the NSA so applying.

“In so far as the Zimbabwe U-20 application was concerned, SRC could not have ‘NOT APPROVED’ the application.

“It does not have that capacity.

“It only had the capacity to reject the application because the time frames for submitting applications of that nature had not been adhered to.

“This is why the Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation has written back to ZIFA regarding their ‘appeal’ and advised them to go back to SRC and seek exemption for non-compliance.

“It is all very procedural, for the sake of good order, and accountability. I do not think anyone wants the U-20s to be prejudiced unnecessarily.

“But, we have seen what happens when short-cuts are taken and procedure is not followed – we get disqualified from competitions with fingers being pointed in different directions.

“So, in short, without pre-empting the powers that be, I am optimistic that the U-20s application will be managed appropriately by all parties concerned.

 Question: A lot of questionable things have been happening in football, why has it taken this long for SRC to rein in the “lawlessness” in the game?

GM: “I don’t think that it’s only ZIFA that has severe governance shortcomings. Many national sports associations are in the same boat.

“The biggest challenge in dealing with this is the need to balance domestic needs against the international bodies to which some of these national sports associations are affiliated.

“You hear the constant defence ‘if you discipline us it constitutes Government interference’.

“And, regrettably, many international sports bodies guard jealously the independence of their affiliates.

“Allied to this, of course, is the need to balance any disciplinary action against the interests of the athletes themselves.

“An adverse reaction from an international body has a direct effect on them, in terms of income and exposure, to international competition.

“But, I think, as SRC, we have found a formula to deal with these competing interests and the constituents of that formula will become clearer as we accelerate the processes we are now undertaking, not just with football, but with every other errant association, Club or sports facilities.’’

Question: It appears SRC and ZIFA are always been at loggerheads, do the SRC have a vendetta against ZIFA?

GM: “We have a vendetta against maladministration and corruption in sport. ZIFA is the national, and most popular sport in the country and, as such, anything affecting football is always more topical than other sporting disciplines.

“Nonetheless, as a country, we should get into the habit of understating the facts and circumstances around any action taken by an authority before jumping to esoteric conclusions.

“There is the unfortunate habit of characterising institutional action as personal or vindictive or political or being part of some agenda.

“Additionally, SRC is not always at loggerheads with ZIFA. I think we co-operated beautifully for the Malawi and, especially, Algerian encounters.

“Indeed, an ad-hoc committee was put into place, comprised of ZIFA, SRC and Ministry of Sport officials.

“As you will note, there was absolutely no issue or controversy surrounding the Algerian ties. The focus, as it rightly should be, was focused on the events on the pitch and not sideshows. That is how it should be.’’

 Question: Is the ZIFA secretary-general suspension by SRC constitutional? Doesn’t it constitute interference that is frowned upon by FIFA? Doesn’t that attract legal challenges since the ZIFA general-secretary is not directly employed by SRC? And what does it mean for football in Zimbabwe?

GM: “Yes it is. We acted in terms of Section 30 of the SRC Act and related legislation, particularly that targeted at Covid-19 prevention.

“It’s not interference by any stretch of the imagination. Football in Zimbabwe will carry on.

“There’s a ZIFA board.

“It’s still intact, for now anyway, and I am sure that they respond in a positive and constructive manner.’’

Question: How geared up is SRC to clean up the rot which had been going on in football for years?

GM: “The root cause of the problems in football have been identified. The present action is the commencement of treatment to be applied.

“It will not always be pleasant, but I think that in the term, like any medicine, it will be good for the game.

“That treatment is not specific to football. It will apply to all errant disciplines in the country.’’

 Question: What should Zimbabweans expect from SRC going forward?

GM: “The SRC is restructuring itself as to be more inclusive of the generality of sporting associations in the country and the various legislation governing sports in this country.

“Cabinet approved of this restructuring and that is presently underway.

“The public will be informed and, in many respects, will be a part of this inclusive process.

“This SRC, as presently constituted, wants to leave a legacy. A legacy that wipes the slate clean, in so far as corruption and maladministration in sport, is concerned.

“A legacy that firmly establishes the structures, from grassroots to professional, whereby athletes can pursue a meaningful career in the discipline of their choice at the highest possible levels.’’