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NO HOLDS BARRED . . . Stanley Mutoya has warned that Zimbabwe will struggle to succeed in sport if proper planning is not done at national administration level

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
AFRICAN Union Sports Council Region Five general manager Stanley Mutoya has warned that there is need for proper planning and prioritisation at national level for Zimbabwe to realise its full potential in sport there is need for proper planning and prioritisation at national level.

Mutoya, who is now based in Botswana, this week made a frank assessment of the state of sport in the country amid a host of administrative and financial problems rocking many disciplines.

The former Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, who was in the country last week said the current problems affecting the sector are not peculiar to Zimbabwe and challenged the country to come up with a national sporting agenda.

“I think Zimbabwe is endowed with talent. I am not talking about just participation in sport but even at administrative level and even resources level. Zimbabwe is endowed with all that. What we need as Zimbabwe is to prioritise and to plan.

“What is our national agenda? People have got to sit down and start discussing the national agenda.

“What is it that we want to achieve in sport as a people? Are we still using sport as recreation and even in recreation what is it that we want to achieve.

“South Africa, they have made it very clear, their agenda is to make sure they get international recognition that’s why their approach is to host international events.

“Right now they are bidding to host the Commonwealth Games, Durban is bidding to host Olympic Games. Their agenda is very clear . . . they have hosted the World Cup in football, in rugby and in cricket because that is their national agenda,’’ Mutoya said.

Mutoya also questioned the strategy used by the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture in drafting a national sports policy.

“I am saying the plan is what I think is not there. We don’t have a national sport agenda.

“I know that the ministry is making efforts now to come up with a national policy.

“But my challenge with the policy is that it is not directed by a national agenda because a policy must speak to the agenda of the country in terms of what we want to do. So the policy, the strategy will then speak to that and the structures will follow that”.

Mutoya said there is need to pay attention to the important fundamentals of sport so that the nation may have a clear approach on the way they implement their programmes.

“We do have talent but the problem in sport is, sport is a volunteer based phenomenon.

“So you will get a builder who is a chairperson of a sport code . . . a doctor and these people have what they call their own territories.

“So sport for them is part time. While it is not peculiar to Zimbabwe alone, in Zimbabwe its worse that people are not paying serious attention to the fundamentals of sport.

“Fundamentals of sport are governance, management and administration, human resources development, planning and prioritisation.

“Those four elements become critical, now if we interrogate Zimbabwe’s approach on these four elements we will fall flat out on those four elements.

“We don’t have things like strategies that are clear in terms of what we want to do. It’s very common I read a lot of this where I get to hear that our national federations are looking for events to go to. But when have we prepared the athletes to go to those events? Have we prepared our athletes enough to get there because a plan must tell us that this is not part of our priorities for this time?

“And then of course it’s also the issues to do with resources and by resources I am not talking of money I am talking about human resources. We have people that are basically elected and there is no follow-up in terms of training, orientation and induction and development of our people in sport generally.

“We have people that were last in class, in a sports class in 1990, 2001 but things have changed in sports. We have administrators who have been there forever. Technology has advanced and our administrators are found way behind in terms of moving. I mean network marketing and social marketing is a critical issue,” Mutoya said.

The former ZOC chief executive said if sport is going to attract investors there is need to run things properly before adding that the government has a role to play also.

“Of course then you get ripple effects of people accusing the corporate world of not supporting sport. But I want to be very frank and very controversial to say that if I was a corporate I would not put my money where I see that there is no value out of it.

“It’s not a free lunch, the corporates are not donating. They are in business so they cannot get into business for the sake of your business.

“Sports marketing and marketing of sports are two different things. Sports marketing is using sport in order to sell your products and services but that medium like sport must be clean for my product.

“If that medium is not clean when people are fighting, there is politics, there is corruption, there is all these dirty things people are not willing to invest. We have to shape up for us to get support.

“Government must support sport specifically in terms of ensuring that sport is sustained and for me I think that is the challenge we face.’’

Mutoya also wondered whether the country has a focused agenda for sport that should have preceded the envisaged national sports policy.

“What is our sport national focus in terms of our agenda before we talk about our national policy and what is our national strategy as a nation?

“Then our policies speak to that agenda and our structures speak to the policy that’s how it has to work. Otherwise we seem to be dousing fires every time and the circus will continue.

“I am still hammering to say lets plan and prioritise there is no short cut in sport.”