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Grace Chingoma Sports Reporter
ZIFA Eastern Region chairperson Piraishe Mabhena, who is vying for one of the posts on the ZIFA board, believes it is crucial that the key points that were raised leading to the revocation of the previous leadership are addressed if the incoming board is to be successful. The 37-year-old faces competition from nine other candidates who are also jostling for the four posts up for grabs.

Mabhena said, if elected, he will support some initiatives starting with the 14 points they raised as councillors before ousting Cuthbert Dube and his fellow board members.

“As the ZIFA Council, we came up with a document that contains at least 14 points that we raised as failures which led to the revocation of the mandate of the previous board. I believe that if the next board is to be successful, this document will serve as a critical point of departure to address the current challenges in our game,” said Mabhena.

Coming from a strong corporate governance background as he is the head of ICT at Tongatt Hullet and working for both Hippo Valley and Triangle as one of the senior managers, he says transparency is his staple food.

“I would like to be part of a team that ensures that football is run in a transparent manner. No one wants to be associated with an organisation that resembles a ‘black box’. “The football stakeholders need to be engaged and kept up to date with correct information, not to engage them as and when it’s convenient to the association.

“Our association has struggled with issues of accountability and if we are to be taken seriously we must ensure accountability to all our stakeholders,” said Mabhena. Mabhena said he has made some achievements in his 10-year football administration.

“I am the former Hippo Valley chairman and I started my football administration in 2005 as a committee member when I joined Hippo Valley then eventually took over as the chairman in 2007 until 2011. “I was then co-opted on the ZIFA Eastern Region board as their marketing officer. I worked in that capacity until I became the regional chairman in 2014,” he said.

Mabhena said he helped change the face of football in Chiredzi leading to the promotion of Triangle and Hippo Valley into the top-flight league.

“When I took over the chairperson post atHippo Valley, it was just an ordinary football side playing just to entertain the community but then we introduced the new vision of trying to scale greater heights, which unfortunately was only achieved after I had left Hippo Valley to join the regional body but I did play quite a role in setting up that foundation”, said Mabhena.

“Currently, I am also a board member at Triangle Football Club, which you can see have also been vastly transformed and are doing extremely well on the local league.

“I am actually involved in that vision as well. “My view of football development is not just about those that we see on the field of play but everyone. We all have a role to play in football and we need to get relevant development in our respective areas that impact the beautiful game.

“We often cry foul and blame referees simply out of ignorance and as a result people no longer attend football matches because they accuse the referees of all sorts of cheating which in most cases is not justified,” said Mabhena.

He says he wants to see the ZIFA Council being empowered. “The running of the national game has been more about the board and the secretariat. In my opinion this has sidelined the critical members of the ZIFA family, the councillors.

“ZIFA can only run better if we empower our parliamentarians to run football and play their part. “Sometimes much money is wasted with people trying to travel the lengths and breadth of this country when we have councillors in every corner of the country who just need to be empowered to run with coordinating national issues in their respective areas.

“If my candidature is successful, I would like to play a pivotal role in unlocking value for our stakeholders in as far as the game of football is concerned.” Mabhena, who has a degree in Applied Mathematics among other academic qualifications, says he is ready to take up any portfolio as assigned by the president or the board.